Tasting the Talent
by DemetriaFeels
Summary: Kara works behind the scenes in the film industry, while Lena is a hot, young, rising star. Their paths cross when they both sign onto a crappy film neither is too excited about to begin with, and they both soon realize they got more than they bargained for. But sometimes all it takes is one person to change your whole perspective.
1. Opportunities

**Oh hey! Welcome to my new fic.**

**It's a film au because I got some stories to tell about film. So enjoy. I'll try to make everything as clear as possible but let me know if there are film things that need further explaining.**

**AU so no powers. I don't own Supergirl characters.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

The engine of the old, white pickup truck roared loudly as it rumbled through rural National City. It was a '92 Dodge with a covered bed that ran on diesel and had more dents in the body than a golf ball. In the driver's seat sat a woman the same age as the behemoth truck she drove with gritted teeth and white knuckles.

Twenty-seven-year-old Kara Danvers was behind the wheel, glancing anxiously in the side mirrors at the trailer she was pulling behind the truck. The trailer was a 1960's silver, streamline mobile home that had been repurposed as a mobile kitchen by her boss, Clark, who sat in the passenger seat giving instructions.

"Be sure you slow down for the railroad tracks," Clark said, pointing at the tracks across the road ahead of them.

"Copy," Kara said, holding back the comment about the fact that she did that when driving regardless because speeding across railroad tracks was careless. But she didn't need to be making snarky comments. She needed to be concentrating on the road.

This was only her third time pulling the trailer. She'd been working for Clark for about two years, but he'd always been the one to drag it around with his truck. She'd simply followed in her nice, relatively new—compared the to truck at least—SUV. Sure, she'd had to drive the truck a few times to go on runs or lug gear back and forth. She'd even driven it through downtown, the worst part of National City to drive. But the trailer hadn't been with her those times. The truck was huge, loud, and hard to drive enough as it was. Adding the trailer to the mix was nearly giving her a panic attack.

The only thing keeping her from freaking out was having Clark beside her guiding her through it. He was slightly older with dark hair, traces of grey starting to make an appearance, and he had an ever-present smile that reached all the way to the square glasses he wore on his face. She liked working for him. He was easy-going and had a goofy personality, and even though he drove her crazy sometimes, she enjoyed the friendship they'd blossomed in addition to their work relationship.

She'd started working with Clark after she'd quit her dead-end coffee shop job in order to pursue her dream of working in film. The timing had worked out well because her friend James had started working with Clark in Craft Services a year or so prior, had made the connections he needed to make, and wanted to switch to the electrical department. Kara started out working every now and then when they needed a hand, and then suddenly James had a gig lined up with an electrical crew. Clark just looked at her and said, "Are you my girl?" And she responded, "I'm your girl," and the next thing she knew she was on a Netflix movie doing crafty.

Craft Services, or "crafty," as film people called, it was by no means glamorous. The sole purpose of the department was to keep the crew and cast hydrated and fed throughout the day. There was catering to do the full meals, but the drinks and snacks people ate on set were all bought and prepared by her and Clark.

So, in other words: she was still making coffee and serving people food, but she was doing it on a film set and making five times as much as she did at the coffee shop. So, she wasn't complaining. She was just happy to be working in film at all. It was the only thing she'd ever imagined herself doing besides writing, her other passion. The department she was in may not have been creative, but it got her on set, helped her make connections. And she was writing in her spare time, the little that she had between jobs and on weekends.

The dream was to one day finish writing a screenplay and sell it so that she wouldn't have to do crafty anymore. She wouldn't be the one walking around with a tray of meat and cheeses. She would be the screenwriter, sitting in her comfy little chair in video village with her headphones on, watching her movie being acted out on the monitors.

But she hadn't written anything yet, so it didn't look like she would be getting out of crafty any time soon.

"Ready to call it quits?" Clark asked as they rounded a block for the fourth time.

"Yes, please," Kara said, already switching the turn signal on so she could start heading back.

"Wide turns, remember?" Clark said, pushing his glasses up anxiously as Kara slowed to turn at the intersection.

"Copy," Kara said again, almost robotically. Copy was what they said in film to indicate what was being said was understood. Copy was their "yes," "okay," or "got it." When she first started working a lot, she was able to leave her film terms on set, but the longer she worked, the harder it got. One day she caught herself texting the word "copy" to a friend who didn't work in film and had to erase it quickly. Then she heard herself say it to someone at the grocery store, and it was all downhill from there.

There was an old sugary refinery factory on the outskirts of the city that had been cleared out and turned into a warehouse for the film industry in National City. There were pieces of old sets, various props, and even a few old cars inside, and every time Kara went in the building she had to stop and gawk at one of the new additions. And maybe take a picture or two with some of the cooler items.

Clark paid the owner a couple hundred dollars a month to keep the trailer in the parking lot when they weren't working. The refinery was across the city from her apartment, but she didn't mind the drive. What she did mind was the fact that there was no shade, the trailer's AC was shit, and it was nearing July. The truck's one saving grace, she always said, was that its AC worked. Everything else on it may have been crappy and falling apart, but thank god for the AC.

Kara's entire being was practically shaking with relief as she pulled into the parking lot of the factory. She wasn't the best driver in her own vehicle, and the stress of driving that whole rig was taking its toll.

"How do you feel about parking it?" Clark asked, sending Kara's stress level right back up.

"Like, back it up along the wall of the building like you do?" Kara asked uncertainly.

"Yeah."

Clark liked to park the trailer next to the building so that at least at some point in the day it could be in the shade. But there was a fence along the side of the property, so that meant backing the trailer into the space. And while Kara seemed to have at least gotten the basics of driving on the road, she _sucked _at backing up.

"Uh…" Kara whined.

"You've got it. You'll be fine," Clark said with a smile and scooted along the bench seat. "Let me out."

Kara groaned as she put the truck in park, unbuckled her seatbelt, and opened the driver's side door to allow Clark to climb out of the cab. "You really need to get that door fixed," she said about the passenger side door, which had never worked in the entire time she'd been knowing Clark. "And the windows." Which didn't roll down.

"Don't be hating on my truck, girl," he said with a laugh as he held the door open for her to climb back into the driver's seat.

She rolled her eyes as she climbed back into the truck, choosing not to point out that this wasn't so much as hate as it was mentioning things that were legitimately broken. She was honestly waiting for the day it just died completely, and she genuinely hoped it wasn't while she was driving it.

Clark stood along the side of the building and waited for Kara to get the truck and trailer situated so that she could start the perilous process of backing up. He stood so that she could see him in her driver's side mirror and he could direct her. There was no rearview mirror (one would be pointless with the covered bed anyway), and the fact that the trailer didn't move left when she turned to the left or right when she turned to the right when backing up was daunting as fuck. And no matter how hard she tried, even if she thought she had the wheels completely straight, the damn thing always veered to one side so that she backed up crooked.

"Straighten it out!" Clark yelled, and somehow she was able to hear him over the roar of the engine. She tried, and it worked for a second, but then the back of the trailer started to go too far in the other direction. "No, Kara, straight!"

She put her foot on the break and opened the door to yell, "You know doing things straight is hard for me!"

Clark let out a laugh, and Kara smiled at the fact that she could joke about her raging lesbianism with her boss. That was the good thing about film. Everyone was really open-minded and accepting of differences. Homophobia, transphobia, racism, sexism, and other things like it simply weren't tolerated. Not in the world they lived in today anyway. It was nice to know she could go to work and be herself unashamedly without fear of persecution.

"I know it's hard, but try," Clark said, giving her one of those easy grins. "You can do it. Just easy does it."

Kara let out a huff of frustration but closed the door to the truck, gritted her teeth, and started going in reverse again. It took some maneuvering, and more attempts than she would have cared to admit, but eventually she got the trailer parked half-way decently. When she hopped out of the cab Clark slapped her with a high-five.

"See, there you go," he said. "Now detach her."

Kara's face fell. "Clark, you're killing me, dude."

He laughed again. "Tell you what, I'll pack us a bowl while you're doing it."

"Alright, fuck, deal," Kara agreed.

That was another good thing about Clark. He was a total stoner, and he was always willing to share. Not only that, but when he noticed Kara was stressed or having a bad day, he encouraged her to sneak off and smoke. It wasn't _technically _allowed—in fact, it was strictly against the rules to do drugs on set—yet everyone did it. It was almost a given in film. Everyone was on drugs, it just depended what kind of drugs. Nicotine was obviously the most popular besides marijuana. And she couldn't even remember how many times different members of crew would slip her a twenty in case she was going on a run to the store so she could pick them up a six pack of beer. Coke was another big one, mostly because it helped to keep people awake. It wasn't uncommon to work well over twelve hours, and sometimes when they had night shoots people were running to the bathroom to take turns taking bumps.

Kara was tame. She enjoyed weed. Maybe a little too much, admittedly, but it did wonders for her anxiety. She'd been diagnosed with anxiety and depression when she was in high school, and though she'd gotten better at managing it through therapy and medication, weed still helped in addition to those things.

With the promise of a bowl in her future, it didn't take her long to unhook the truck, maybe two minutes total. She was surprisingly good at that part. She'd watched Clark do it enough times that when the time came for her to try it herself, she'd done it perfectly on the first try. It may have been a weird thing to be proud of, but she was proud of it, nonetheless.

Clark pulled the truck forward a bit once the trailer was landed and turned off the groaning vehicle. It shuddered and quieted, and Kara sighed as Clark opened the driver's door with a loud squeak. Nothing about the truck was silent. It was one of the loudest vehicles she'd ever heard in her entire life. The way it rumbled was so distinct that half the time she knew when Clark was coming simply because she heard the truck before she actually saw it.

They settled on the back of the tailgate to smoke. Clark handed her a small, blue pipe that'd he'd loaded and a lighter, and she took them appreciatively. After she took her hit, she handed them back to him, blowing out a cloud of smoke.

"So, how are you feeling?" Clark asked before taking his hit, and Kara knew he didn't mean about the weed.

He meant the driving and the trailer. Since she'd worked for him those had always been Clark's responsibilities. And why shouldn't they be? They were his things, it was his company she worked under. Film industry people were independent contractors, which meant they worked job to job. Clark technically owned his own craft services company. He'd bought the trailer years before for next to nothing, renovated it himself, and started doing movies out of it. He'd had assistants come and go, but they all moved on to other things. Kara was the assistant he'd had the longest, and she wasn't going anywhere any time soon.

That was why when they got offered an eight-week movie over the summer he didn't turn it down even though he knew he was leaving all summer. He and his wife Lois had a baby earlier in the year, and they were going bring the baby to visit her parents in Metropolis for most of July, and then heading to Argo to spend time with Clark's parents through August. The only reason he was able to do this was because he had Kara.

When he'd pitched her the idea of running the show on her own, she'd jumped at the idea. It was more money, more responsibility, and an opportunity that didn't come around often. Their department may have been small, but she was being asked to be in charge of it. She wouldn't be an assistant this time around, she would be the key—the _department head_. Not many people could say they were a department head at twenty-seven. She was most likely one of the youngest department heads in the city. She was hungry, and she wanted it.

But that was before she realized that meant she'd be the one driving the damn truck and trailer, and now she wasn't so sure.

"I mean, does it matter?" Kara asked, pushing her glasses further up her nose. It was hot as fuck, and she was sweating like crazy, and it was making her glasses constantly fall off her face. This was why she wore her contacts when she was working. That and sometimes food and drink splashed on her and she had to stop and clean her glasses at least ten times a day. "Either way, the show's starting, and I'm driving this thing."

Clark exhaled a lungful of smoke and handed the pipe back. "It does matter. If you're not comfortable we may have to figure something else out."

"Figure what else out?" Kara paused to take a hit, blowing it out as she asked, "Who else can drive this? Nia or Siobhan? No."

Since Clark wasn't going to be there Kara needed an assistant. They'd hired a girl named Nia they'd worked with before. She was quirky and upbeat, and Kara was thrilled to have her aboard. But the second assistant had been tricky. They'd never worked a show before where they got _two _assistants for the full run. It was usually just when they had an excessive amount of background actors. But they'd been offered a second and accepted in a heartbeat.

Kara had reached out to a new friend named Siobhan she'd met on a previous show. Siobhan seemed eager to work, had been on sets before, and had food service experience. She didn't have crafty experience, but neither did Kara when she started. She was willing to give someone a chance, even if Clark was skeptical about the hire at first. But that didn't mean she was willing to hand over the keys to this crazy contraption to a girl she'd just met—or even Nia, who she'd known for nearly half a year. No, that was her burden to bear.

"I'll be fine, Clark," Kara told him, handing over the pipe and lighter again. "I'm just overthinking it. Really. Don't worry."

He stared at her for a moment. "I'm not. I know you've got this." He offered a smile, hit the bowl again, and coughed slightly as he let it out. "You've done all this before. The only new part is the driving. And as long as you just go slow and use your mirrors, you'll be fine."

He was right. She had done the majority of this before. She'd worked on and off sets since she was twenty and had been doing crafty with Clark long enough to know how to run a set properly. She'd even been in charge at the end of their last long show when Clark took off when the baby was born. But that had been easy because they were at the same location throughout the last few weeks—a soundstage, which was as easy as it got in film.

Filming didn't take place all at one location. There were numerous, sometimes more than one in a day. But for those last few weeks they filmed on stage, where they'd built sets. She never had to move the trailer because the location didn't change.

And that also hadn't been a whole show. She'd been the assistant who just filled in for a couple of weeks then. Now it was her show to run, her time to shine. There was no one to fall back on if she messed up. Clark was entrusting her with his company and livelihood to not only not completely fuck it up, but to knock it out of the park.

No pressure or anything.

"I've got it," Kara said, not sure if she was saying it more to reassure Clark or herself. "The girls and I are gonna get an early start Sunday to prep, and then Monday we're gonna go in and kill it." She smiled and gave him a thumbs-up. "No prob, boss."

"Don't forget to get the stuff for cast," he said, eyes going wide. For every show there was always a cast member who had a list of requests, and if they didn't submit one, they usually tried to ask if there were any requests anyway. This was one of those shows that had requests before they asked. "Like, every single thing on that fucking list."

"Both of the lists, right?" Kara asked, remembering she'd seen one for both of the stars—Jack Spheer and Felicity Smoak.

"No, just that dude Jack," Clark said, shaking his head. "Apparently the other one pulled out of the project yesterday."

"_What_?" Kara asked incredulously. "No! Why?" She'd been looking forward to working with Felicity. She knew she met actors all the time and they really were just regular people, but she couldn't help it when it came to the actresses she had crushes on. The lesbian thirst outweighed everything in her brain screaming that they were normal and that there was nothing special about them. But then they smiled at her, and she lost all logic. "Have they replaced her yet?"

"Don't know, but probably if they haven't pushed back the start date," Clark said, tapping the bowl to his hand to ash it out. He set the pipe on the tailgate and wiped his hands on his jeans.

She didn't know how he managed to wear jeans in the sweltering heat of National City in late June. Kara herself was wearing her waterproof hiking boots, basketball shorts, and a t-shirt she'd cut the sleeves from. Her blonde hair was pulled up in a bun to keep it from sticking to her neck, and she had on a baseball cap to shade herself from the blinding sun.

And she still felt like she was melting.

"I'm glad we have a third just so I can have someone stocking coolers all day long while I do other shit," Kara said as she wiped a bead of sweat from her face. "We're gonna go through drinks fast. I don't know how we're going to stick to a budget of under $600 a day. You know we spend that much on water and ice alone."

"You can do it," Clark said, crossing his arms over his chest. "I've done it before."

But was it in the summer? That was the question. Because she'd done shows in both summer and the winter. In winter she could put ice in a cooler full of drinks and not have to ice it down until again until after lunch. Doing that in the summer? Unheard of. She almost told Clark to say no when he'd told her that was the budget for them. Sticking to it was going to be impossible, and she wished he would have fought a little harder for a better one. It was easy for him to agree to if he wasn't going to be the one there hearing crew bitch about why there wasn't any food.

She didn't say any of that, though. Instead she asked, "Did you see they sent us the script?" When Clark shook his head she said, "It's awful."

He frowned. "Really?"

"Yeah." Kara rolled her eyes. She'd not only seen that they'd gotten it, but opened it and started reading. She liked to do that when they were given scripts because it was nice to know what she was going to be working on. And it was good to read scripts of movies that were actually being filmed so she could better her own writing. "It's a typical romantic comedy with some bullshit plot about this lame dude who basically tricks this woman into falling in love with him. I legitimately wouldn't pay to see it or even bother illegally downloading it."

"Well, you don't have to see it," Clark said with a laugh. "As long as they're paying you, who cares?" She cared. She wanted to work on _good_ movies, not just big ones. "I think it's gonna be a great show," Clark said, forever the optimist.

Kara wanted to feel that way, too. She really did. This was supposed to be a good thing, her department heading a movie. There wasn't supposed to be this overwhelming feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. But the facts were that the trailer she was working out of was falling apart, the truck pulling it wasn't much better, she was a novice at driving them, had no idea how to run a show by herself, and was going in with no money and no real idea what the fuck she was going to do if something went wrong.

This was going to be a train wreck.

But didn't voice her concerns. Instead, she just smiled and said, "Me too."

* * *

There were many pleasant ways to wake up: to the sound of birds chirping, the smell of coffee brewing, a lover's gentle kiss on the cheek.

Twenty-six-year-old Lena Luthor got none of those things.

Instead she got her mother Lillian throwing open her curtains at whatever the hell time it was and casting the daylight into her otherwise dark room.

Lena didn't live with her mother. She hadn't since she was eighteen. One of the many benefits of being part of one of the most famous film families in the world was the obnoxious wealth. She'd bought herself a penthouse in National City the day after she became legal and moved without so much as telling her mother.

That had been a fun phone call the next day.

But Lillian was not only her mother but also her manager and agent, and since her brother Lex had decided to fire her and hire someone outside of the family, she was all Lillian had. Their father had been an acclaimed actor before he drank himself into an early grave, and Lillian had done what any grieving widow would do—dug her claws even deeper into her children so much so that Lex not only got a new manager and agent but hadn't spoken to her in three years. Now Lena had to deal with her alone.

Thankfully Lillian vowed never to move out of Metropolis and hated National City with a passion, one of the reasons Lena had chosen it as her new home. That and the bustling film industry. It was just as busy as Metropolis, but those were mostly big, blockbuster movies. Perfect for Lex, who was the hottest action star in the business at the moment. But not for Lena.

She preferred small, indie films when she could get Lillian to allow her to take them, and those were more often in National City. She'd done a couple of those since moving, but most wanted her to expose herself to the camera, and not only would Lillian never allow it, she didn't feel that comfortable showing off her body.

Which was why she'd stopped sleeping naked the first time her mother barged into her apartment unannounced. She'd never even given her a key, but she'd talked her way into getting one at the front desk in the lobby. And that morning appeared to be no exception.

"Wake up, Lena, it's two p.m.," was how Lillian greeted her when the youngest Luthor sat up, rubbing sleep-filled green eyes.

"I can tell time, Mother," she muttered grumpily as she threw the covers off her legs and swung them over the side of the bed. "How'd you get in?"

"Well I knocked for ten minutes when my key didn't work before getting the front desk to let me in," Lillian said, fixing her daughter with a hard look. "Why do you keep changing the locks?"

_To avoid this exact thing happening,_ Lena thought, but didn't voice her thoughts. Lillian had boundary issues. After the first time she let herself in unannounced Lena had changed the locks. She didn't have to after for a short while because she actually answered Lillian's calls and texts, so she was able to be prepared for her arrival. But Lillian drove Lena absolutely mental, and sometimes she ignored her simply because she couldn't _handle_ talking to her. The few times Lillian showed up by surprise, she still managed to somehow get herself let in despite Lena telling the front desk _not to. _But that was the thing about Lillian Luthor. She knew how to get what she wanted.

She'd hoped changing the locks every time her mother barged in on her would give her the hint that these actions were unwanted and unappreciated, but if Lillian realized she didn't care. She still managed to intrude on Lena every time and walk away with a new copy of Lena's key.

"If you would have told me you were coming, I would have been up," Lena grumbled. She didn't wait for a response, just began padding through her penthouse towards the kitchen. But of course, Lillian followed. Lena didn't have to look over her shoulder to know that. She could hear her heels clicking on the hardwood floor.

"I called you and you sent me straight to voicemail," Lillian chastised as she chased Lena into the kitchen. "_Several _times."

Lena frowned, putting on her best confused face. "I don't recall. Must have done it in my sleep." She turned to rummage in the cabinets, smirking once her back was to Lillian. She very vividly remembered doing it. By the fourth call she'd simply turned off her phone. "Or, I forgot to put my phone on the charger when I went to sleep. Maybe it died."

"I'm sure," Lillian said in annoyed voice, dropping her purse on the countertop. She watched as Lena took out the fixings to make coffee. "Don't you want to know why I'm here?"

"I assume to tell me something you couldn't have just left in my voicemail," Lena said in a bored tone as she put a filter in the coffee maker. "Honestly, Mother, what was so important that you had to fly here on the first plane out of Metropolis?"

"You got _Puppy Love_," Lillian said excitedly, which made Lena paused in her quest for caffeine long enough to fix her mother with a stoic stare.

"I got what?" she asked.

"_Puppy Love_," Lillian said again. "That cute little romantic comedy you auditioned for. Isn't it wonderful?"

Lena turned back to the coffee maker to hide her frown. "I thought they went with Felicity Smoak for that?"

She'd been thankful they had. From what she read of the script it sounded like an insufferable, heteronormative piece of dribble that should have never been written, let alone bought and produced. But Lillian loved the project and thought it was just what Lena needed to propel her into stardom. Not that she wasn't famous already, but she was no Lex. Lex was the glory chaser, like their father had been. She just wanted to do movies she liked, not ones that would make her richer than she already was or make even more people want to butt into her life. She had enough of that already with her family name and B-List movie career.

"She got another offer on a different film and decided to back out because it conflicted," Lillian answered.

_A better film probably_, Lena thought.

"And now they want me?" she asked as she set the pot of coffee to brew before turning to face Lillian again.

"Yes!" Lillian was beaming with what almost looking like pride.

Lena shuffled her bare feet and crossed her arms over her chest. "Whatever happened to that indie I auditioned for?"

"Which one, dear?" Lillian asked, but the smile faltered. She knew exactly which one she was talking about.

"_Life Lessons_," Lena said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

Now that was a project she wanted to get on. It was her dream role. The film was about a badass lesbian detective who was investigating the murder of a high school principal who'd recently been fired for allegations of inappropriately touching some of the male students—specifically the football players who were in danger of going on academic probation. Through her interviews with the school staff she met and fell in love with the school's biology teacher. Together they pieced together the murder and then lived happily ever after.

The role of the detective had gone to Sara Lance early, and Lena had auditioned for the love interest. It was the first audition she'd gotten nervous about in ages. Mostly because it was the first one for a role she actually wanted to get since she'd done a little indie film that she'd had a substantial role in a few years prior. It was about a young woman who went on a road trip with her best friends after her fiancé died in a car accident. She'd played one of the best friends, she'd loved it, but her mother hated it and said it was the worst film of her career.

Her and Lillian's tastes in roles didn't match up. The parts she wanted were not usually the ones she got. A couple of auditions she'd gone in and bombed purposefully just because she couldn't fathom the idea of having to play that part.

But this was an amazing character. Smart, charming, funny, and _gay_. That was the biggest selling point for Lena. She'd started figuring out her sexuality in her teen years when she had a crush on one of her co-stars for a crappy teen drama pilot she'd filmed that never got picked up. After struggling to figure out what to do she finally came out to Lillian, which was probably the biggest mistake she'd ever made. Lillian insisted she was going through a phase that would eventually pass and that she should keep this as hidden as possible not to ruin her career.

That had been a decade ago, and yet Lena was gayer than ever, and Lillian still insisted they keep it under wraps. She said it was so that Lena didn't type-cast herself into strictly gay roles, that if Lena came out, she wouldn't be picked to play a straight character ever again. That didn't sound so bad to Lena, but every time she broached the topic it launched them into a fight that was more of a headache than Lena felt like dealing with.

She'd been hoping if she got the role then it could open up the dialogue naturally. She always did interviews to promote her projects, and she really wanted to play a lesbian character so that when doing interviews if someone asked if she was gay herself, she could just look right into the camera and say, "Yes, yes I am." And then Lillian would be pissed, but it would be out there, and there would be nothing she could do about it.

"Oh, yes, _Life Lessons_," Lillian said, obviously pretending she was just now remembering. Lillian had been an actress once upon a time, and she liked to think herself a good one, but the reason her career fizzled out was that she flat-out wasn't. Even getting herself pregnant with Lex and landing Lionel Luthor as a husband hadn't done anything to help her. And there was no way she could have forgotten about this audition. They'd had a screaming match about whether or not she would even go. "They called the other day and said they'd gone with someone else. I heard through the grapevine it was Ava Sharpe." She put on a fake frown and tried her best to look disappointed. "I'm sorry, dear. I know you really wanted that little lesbian movie."

Lena pulled at a loose thread on her worn-in t-shirt she'd slept in and pretended her heart hadn't just broken slightly. "It's fine. I didn't think I would get it anyway." She sighed and turned her attention back to the coffee, which was just about done. It couldn't finish brewing fast enough. Lena hardly felt like a real person until she had at least one, sometimes two cups in her. "So you told them I'm doing _Puppy Love_, I'm guessing?"

"Of course I did!" Lillian scoffed. "As if we would pass up this golden opportunity."

There she went again with the _we_. Last she checked it was her career that lined both of their pockets further. Lillian got a percentage of everything she made. That's why she always wanted Lena to take bigger roles, so she could increase her own cut. She liked to claim it was all for Lena, that she just wanted to see her succeed. But Lena knew the truth, knew Lillian was only in it for herself. But that's how most agents and managers were. If it wasn't Lillian taking advantage of her it would just be someone else. At least with Lillian she knew what she was getting.

"That films here in National City right?" Lena asked, finally pouring herself a generous cup of coffee, one so full she had to pick it up carefully so that she didn't spill any over the sides.

"Yes, Lena, you won't have to leave your precious little city," Lillian said with a condescending tone. "Principle photography starts July first."

Lena was about to take a sip of scalding hot coffee when she paused and looked at Lillian with wide eyes. "That's _Monday_," she said exasperatedly. It was Thursday. She had less than a week to learn lines.

"Yes, and the camera test is Sunday."

"Jesus Christ, Mother," Lena grumbled. "Do you at least have a script for me so I can start learning my lines?"

"Didn't you have one emailed to you before your audition?" Lillian asked impatiently.

"Yeah, but that was months ago," Lena said before taking a sip of coffee and wincing when she burned her tongue. "Besides, I like to have a hard copy so I can write notes. You know this."

Her mother rolled her eyes. "Very well. I'll call them and let them know to have one sent over." She gave a tight-lipped smile. "Are you happy?"

"Thrilled," Lena said without any effort to put even the slightest hint of emotion in her voice.

Lillian's eyes narrowed somewhat, but the fake smile never slipped off her face. "Why don't you go get cleaned up and we'll go out for a late lunch to celebrate?"

"No, that's fine, Mother," Lena said quickly. "I don't want to make a fuss."

"Nonsense," Lillian insisted. "We're going." She reached out and picked at a strand of Lena's long, dark hair, which was a tangled mess after sleeping. "And please do something nice with your hair. You always look so lovely when you put it up. That way everyone can see your pretty face."

Because that's all she was, apparently. Another pretty face.

"Fine," Lena relented, knowing if she just gave in and went to lunch with Lillian, she would be pacified enough to leave her alone at least for the rest of the night.

"And wear something pretty," Lillian instructed. "Not those sweats you like to walk around in when running errands."

Lena rolled her eyes. She'd done that twice in the past week, and each time Lillian had texted her a paparazzi photo accompanied with a passive aggressive comment about Lena looking "comfortable."

"Why don't you just pick out my outfit for me?" she offered, because she knew even if she did make an effort Lillian would still nit pick every detail until she went in Lena's closet herself and picked something out anyway.

"Lovely idea, darling," Lillian said, this time with a real smile. It made Lena's stomach turn.

"Just nothing too revealing, okay?" Lena said as she began walking back to her bedroom, coffee in hand. "We're going to lunch, not a night club."

Lillian was on her heels. "You have a beautiful body, what's wrong with showing it off every once in a while?"

"I have more to offer than just my body, Mother, and I'm not going to apologize for not wanting to show off my tits so some prepubescent teenager can jack off to me at night when his parents are asleep," she said, and she smiled with satisfaction when she glanced over her shoulder and saw the disgusted look on Lillian's face. "Besides, you're the one who doesn't want me to expose myself to the camera. I thought you'd enjoy my modest fashion choices."

"Nudity and showing off your figure are completely different things," her mother shot back. As soon as they got to the bedroom, she put her hand on Lena's back and nudged her towards the bathroom attached to the master suite. "Now would you _please _get in the shower? I'd like to catch an early flight back to Metropolis."

"Whatever you say, Mother Dearest," Lena said in a sickeningly sweet voice, enjoying the glare she saw on Lillian's face before she closed the bathroom door in it—and made sure to lock it.

She let out a heavy sigh as she placed her mug on the bathroom counter, then went over to the shower and turned it on to warm up the water. She pulled her t-shirt over her head and threw it in the hamper by her shower, then pulled down her cotton sleep shorts and underwear and threw those in, too.

While she waited for the shower to heat up, she figured she might as well finish her coffee. She went over to pick it up from the counter, glancing at herself in the mirror as she did. Normally she didn't like looking at herself in the mirror, not fully-clothed, and especially not naked. But she paused then and let her eyes drift over herself.

She knew she was what people considered traditionally pretty, but she didn't really see it herself. There were things she didn't like about herself, such as she thought her thighs were too big and her skin was too pale. She supposed her breasts were nice, but that didn't mean she wanted them seen by millions across the globe. And she did love her green eyes and long, dark hair, even though Lillian tried to get her to dye it at least on a monthly basis. She believed Lena would have more success as an actress as a blonde, but Lena was adamant about not wanting to do that. She didn't think it was necessary.

Then again, she'd lost her dream role to Ava Sharpe, who was a tall, _blonde_ woman. And alongside her in the film was Sara Lance, also a blonde. Maybe Lillian had a point. But she didn't want to think about it just then. She should have been thankful to have a role at all. The last thing she'd done was a guest spot on a medical drama for a couple of episodes before her character was eventually killed off. At least this movie was going to be eight weeks of work, and it was her first time being the romantic lead in a blockbuster movie. She could kiss a man for eight weeks and survive. It would be nauseating, but she could do it. Lillian had been trying to land her a leading role in a romance movie since she was a teenager, but somehow, she'd always managed to avoid booking them. Until _Puppy Love._ But maybe Lillian was right and doing a movie like this could help open her up to more roles, better roles.

She should have been thrilled. But as she gulped down her quick-cooling coffee, she couldn't help the hollowness she felt in her chest. And even when she climbed into the shower, she couldn't shake it, and she had to take a moment to close her eyes and take in deep breaths to calm herself because the walls of the shower started to feel like they were caving in.

Her heart sunk even lower when she got out and saw what Lillian had picked for her to wear: a tight-fitting, green dress that was cut just above the knee, and she'd paired it with the most uncomfortable shoes Lena owned. She gritted her teeth to avoid saying anything nasty about the choice because it wasn't worth the argument that would surely follow and grabbed the dress and shoes and took them back into the bathroom to finish getting ready for a lunch she didn't want to go to in the first place.

* * *

**First chapter down, many more to go. Stay tuned.**


	2. Preperation

**popping back up between projects to give you more content**

* * *

Prep day didn't go as smoothly as Kara would have liked.

She told Nia and Siobhan to meet her for nine a.m. at the trailer so they could do some cleaning before shopping. She also wanted to do a quick little team meeting to thank them both for coming aboard and briefed them on what to expect. She got there fifteen minutes earlier than that just because, and Nia showed up five minutes after her.

They hugged in greeting and chatted for a few minutes, catching up because it had been months since they'd last seen each other. Kara didn't know Nia very well, but she liked her a lot. She was goofy and upbeat and added much-needed laughter to Kara's days when they worked together. Nia was also a member of the queer community, and Kara felt bonded to her simply because of that. Gay solidarity and all that.

Nia was a bisexual, trans woman in the process of transitioning. The first day they met Nia told Kara how she'd figured out she was trans from a young age, how she'd come out to her family, and how long she'd been on hormone replacement therapy. Kara'd never even asked. But she quickly learned that not only was Nia an open book, she had absolutely no filter. Anything that came into her head came out of her mouth, and even though it wasn't always appropriate, it had Kara unexpectedly cracking up throughout the long workday. She couldn't wait to do a whole show with her.

As much fun as it was talking to Nia, though, Kara kept glancing at her phone to check the time. The closer it inched to nine with no sign of Siobhan, the more anxious Kara got. Then nine came and went, and Kara got a hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach. Nia occasionally checked the time on her phone as well, her face obviously showing the disapproval of Siobhan's tardiness on the first day.

By ten after nine Kara called her, Nia's dark brown eyes staring at her intensely as she did. Kara turned her back as the phone rang, her face slightly reddening. Nia hadn't been keen on her hiring Siobhan without talking to her about it first. She insisted she had people she could call that could do the job, but Kara hadn't wanted to go that route. Those were Nia's friends, Nia's people. And while she appreciated Nia wanting to help, she was the boss. She had to work with this person, too, and Siobhan was a friend—a new one at least. But being late on prep day wasn't a good sign for things to come, and the adage of not working with your friends floated through her mind as the phone rang again and again.

Just when she thought the call was going to go to voicemail, Siobhan picked up. "Hi, honey," she said in an overly sweet voice. "I'm almost there. My GPS says five minutes."

Kara resisted the urge to sigh. "Okay," she said slowly. "So you'll be here around nine-fifteen?"

"Yes, babes," came the reply. "I've gotta go, though. I'm driving, okay?"

Kara bit her lip. She sure hoped she was, damn. "I'll see you soon."

"Okay, bye, love," Siobhan cooed out before ending the call.

"Dude," Nia said in a low voice, walking around Kara and standing in her line of vision again with a distinct frown on her face. "You told her nine, right? She's seriously going to be late on _prep day_?" She shook her head slowly, yet her long, dark pony-tail swung behind her. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

Kara agreed with her that it didn't make her confident for the rest of the show if Siobhan was late before they even officially started filming, but she knew that if she said so it would just launch them into another discussion about hiring someone else. But she'd already hired Siobhan, and there was no time to find someone new less than twenty-four hours before filming started.

"It's fine," Kara insisted, planting on what she hoped was a convincing smile. "It's only prep. No big. As long as she's on time tomorrow."

"And if she's not?" Nia asked, quirking a perfectly-plucked eyebrow.

"Then I'll have a talk with her," Kara said, tilting her baseball cap up so she could wipe sweat from her brow. The sun was already beating down on them mercilessly, and they hadn't even started working yet.

"You should talk to her now," Nia said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Anxiety surged through Kara's chest at that suggestion. She wasn't good at confrontation, and just thinking about saying something to Siobhan made her feel shaky. But Nia was looking at her so pointedly and stubbornly that she felt like she had to agree.

"Okay, I will," Kara said.

"Good." Nia smirked. "Because if you didn't, I was going to."

They decided to get inside the trailer and start dragging things out so they could sweep and mop the floors since the trailer had been sitting for a minute. Siobhan ended up being another ten minutes, not five, and by the time she pulled into the gravel lot Kara was silently fuming, reminding herself to stay calm as Siobhan climbed out of the car with Starbucks in hand.

_Seriously_?

"Hi, doll," Siobhan greeted, instantly draping an arm around Kara in greeting.

Kara returned the hug half-heartedly, feeling Nia's eyes burning into the back of her head. "So, what happened?" Kara asked in an even voice when she pulled out of the hug.

"What do you mean?" Siobhan asked and took a sip of her Frappuccino.

To her left, Nia made a scoffing noise, and Kara quickly asked, "I said nine, so why are you late?" Her pulse raced as the question left her mouth, and her heart leapt into her throat when Siobhan frowned at her.

"I mean, there was traffic," she said with a dismissive wave of the hand.

"At nine a.m. on a Sunday?" Nia asked skeptically

Siobhan narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, I think there was an accident or something."

Kara frowned at that, doubting the statement. She'd been to Siobhan's house before, and it wasn't far from her own. They had to take the same route, and there'd been no traffic, no accident in sight. And even if there had been, that meant Siobhan should have been hauling ass to get there as soon as possible, not stopping at Starbucks (and not even bothering to get them anything, either). But she didn't feel like starting any kind of argument over something stupid.

"Okay, just don't be late tomorrow," Kara said, her voice sounding tired to her own ears, not even a full half-hour into prep day. "We need to be at least on time, if not early."

Siobhan rolled her dark eyes and tucked a strand of her shoulder-length brown hair behind her ear. "I mean, yeah, I know that. I always am on film days." She shrugged. "But today's just a prep day, so you know—like, it's fine."

Kara's eyebrows shot up, and she bit her tongue for a moment to stop a curt reply. "Still, just, in the future…"

"Don't worry about it, hon," Siobhan said with a smile. "I'm on my shit. You'll see."

Kara gave a tight-lipped smile and nodded before gesturing to Nia. "This is the other member of our team, Nia Nal." She then gestured to the woman who'd been tardy. "And this is Siobhan Smythe."

The two regarded each other for a moment, each taking the other in. Siobhan was slightly shorter, with a pointed nose and almond-shaped eyes. She wore flip-flops, a tank top that clearly showed she'd gone braless, and blue jean shorts that were shorter than the pair of boxer briefs Kara was currently wearing under her basketball shorts. Nia, on the other hand, was tall, a couple of inches taller than Kara. Her hair was long, wavy, and full, and she wore it swept up in a ponytail and underneath a cap to keep the sun out of her face, the same as Kara had done. But unlike Kara, who was shorts and a t-shirt, Nia wore a long-sleeve black shirt and black cotton pants. Kara wondered how she wasn't dying of heatstroke.

"Hi, nice to meet you," Siobhan said, holding out the hand that wasn't holding coffee for a shake. Nia hesitated for a moment before taking it limply.

"Yeah, sure," she said, shaking Siobhan's hand quickly before dropping it and crossing her arms over her chest.

A tension hung in the air, an audible silence that made Kara feel even more uneasy. So, she clapped her hands together and nodded her head towards the trailer. "Well, let's get to it, then," she said lamely.

She'd wanted to have a team meeting before starting, but that was before Siobhan was late, before they'd started working in the blazing heat. Now she just wanted to get this shit done as quickly as possible so she could go home and enjoy what was left of the last day before her life became the usual chaos it was during filming.

* * *

Thankfully Siobhan did put her head down and work—for the first twenty minutes at least. Then she started talking, which Kara didn't mind. Kara liked to talk, as long as it didn't interfere with work. Kara had gotten good at multi-tasking. She knew how to hold a conversation while still doing her job. Siobhan hadn't seemed to master that concept. Every time she started to say something, she would stop what she was doing and not resume until she'd finished speaking—which was always for a while. It was irritating, to say the least, but Kara didn't snap at her or correct her. She just buckled down and worked twice as fast to pick up the slack.

After about an hour Kara decided Siobhan would be of more use shopping than she would be at the trailer. There was so much they needed to get in order to get started that it would take multiple shopping trips for each of them. So, Kara handed over the production credit card they'd given her and gave Siobhan a list.

With her gone, she and Nia were able to finish cleaning the trailer and set up all of the equipment so that it was ready to go the next morning. It didn't take long, but it was enough time that Siobhan should have returned from the store. The list Kara had given her hadn't even been that long. By the time she finally came back Kara expected her tiny car to be completely packed with groceries, and she was crest-fallen to see how little Siobhan had bought. The time she'd spent at the store did not add up to that little—Kara knew, she was a shopping pro. And when they unpacked everything into the trailer Kara noticed she'd forgotten several things on the list, some of which were for cast.

So, Kara made new lists, one for each of them, making sure to put the stuff for cast on Nia's, because she knew Nia would know how important it was to get those things. Then when she suggested they split up to divide and conquer Siobhan whined and asked why they couldn't just shop together. And even after Kara explained that it helped to save time, she still pouted and tried to insist they go together. Eventually Kara convinced her otherwise, and she was glad. She knew she could move faster on her own.

They each took their lists, Siobhan kept the card while Kara divided up the cash for her and Nia, and they set off, everyone going to different stores based on what they needed. Kara completed hers and was back at the trailer first, but she'd expected to be.

This was, sadly, her favorite part of prep. Shopping used to overwhelm her, but now she knew most grocery stores like the back of her hand, and she just put her headphones in and jammed while she breezed through with cartload after cartload of groceries. Shopping was easy, even fun sometimes. It was the cleaning and organizing that she hated, and it took everything in her not to just throw the groceries in the trailer, bags and all, and instead unpack them neatly on the shelves. By the time she was done Nia had showed up with what she'd bought, and she helped her unload as well.

They were just finishing up with Nia's when Siobhan returned, looking flustered as she immediately began to start taking bags out of her car. Kara didn't know what made her pick up the pace, but she wasn't complaining. Her car was unloaded in no time, but Kara sighed as she went through the bags and noticed once again Siobhan had failed to get some of the things on her list.

"You didn't get bananas, bread, or eggs," Kara said as she unpacked that last box onto the shelf.

"I ran out of time," Siobhan said.

"Getting those things would have been an extra five minutes, tops, and we need those things," Kara said, trying her best to keep the agitation out of her voice.

"Sorry," Siobhan said with a shrug.

Kara blinked slowly and did her best to remembered to breathe. "Okay, can you go back and get those things?"

"Why do I have to go?" Siobhan asked in a stubborn tone.

"Why'd you forget them in the first place?" Nia challenged, and Kara shot her a warning look.

"I told you, I ran out of time," Siobhan said again.

"You have time now, you can go now," Nia said.

Siobhan's face screwed up in a tight frown. "I don't, though. This already took longer than I expected, and I have to go home and get ready for a date." She looked to Kara. "I told you about it, remember?"

Kara did remember. Siobhan wouldn't shut up about it earlier. It was the thing she kept talking about that made Kara send her to the store. Siobhan apparently was seeing this guy who didn't want to be exclusive, but Siobhan did. She asked Kara if she should keep seeing him, and Kara flat-out told her no, that she would most likely get hurt. Yet she was going to see him anyway. Kara wasn't exactly sympathetic to her reason for wanting to leave.

"I told you to expect an eight-hour day," Kara tried to reason. "It's barely four, and you're being paid until five-thirty."

Siobhan let out a dramatic sigh. "I mean, I _guess _I can go. I just don't see why it has to be me. I have something to do."

"I have shit to do," Nia replied. "I have a life. But this is work."

"It's fine, I'll go," Kara said quickly, not even mentioning that she had a life, too. It wasn't worth all this anxiety and the hassle of arguing about it. She could just stop on the way home really quickly. It was only a couple of things, after all.

"You're the best," Siobhan said, now smiling. She wrapped her arms around Kara quickly before running to her car. "I'll see you tomorrow, ladies!" She said as she climbed into her silver Saturn.

She waved goodbye as she drove off, and Kara returned it, attempting a smile despite how annoyed she felt. She noticed Nia kept her arms hanging limply by her side, making not even the slightest effort to acknowledge Siobhan's departure other than glaring after her retreating vehicle.

"Kara," she said, rounding on the blonde. "This isn't going to work."

Kara sighed and threw her hands up in exasperation. "What am I supposed to do? We start in fourteen hours!"

"You shouldn't have hired her," Nia said, shaking her head.

Kara gave an exhausted shrug, feeling drained both physically and emotionally at that point. "Well it's done, okay?" she said. "She's gonna see. I'll get her on set tomorrow and kick her ass, show her what crafty's really about."

"I sure hope so," Nia said, though she looked skeptical. "In the meantime, I'm going to reach out to my people and see if anyone's available as backup."

"Okay," Kara said, no energy left to disagree. "I guess I'll go to the store." She couldn't stop the eye roll that accompanied the statement. "And I'll see you tomorrow, really fucking early."

"See you, girl," Nia said, holding up her hand for a high-five. "We're gonna rock this, you and me."

Kara solidly returned the high-five. "I sure as fuck hope so, Nia."

* * *

The script was worse than Lena remembered. She cringed several times when reading it and had to pour herself a glass of wine not even fifteen pages in. By the time she'd finished reading she'd also finished the bottle. But even being a little wine-drunk did little to ease the dread she felt when dwelling on the fact that she would actually have to act out the dumb shit one the pages sitting in her lap.

The story wasn't anything special. In fact, it was just plain crap. It followed this guy named Dean who is a playboy. He meets a woman named Erin—her character—who works as a receptionist in a vet's office to pay her way through veterinary school. She snubs him when he first asks her out, and then—through prompting from his obnoxious, toxic, male best friend—he adopts a dog from a shelter just to bring it into her clinic for a checkup and see her again. Then she agrees to hang out with him to help him learn how to be a competent pet owner, and eventually they fall in love. Of course she finds out his plan to dump the dog back at the shelter after getting her in bed, and the guy goes through some soul searching and realizes he loves not only her but the dog, too. Then he makes a grand gesture and wins her back.

Lena couldn't help thinking the story would have ended better with Erin stealing Dean's dog and living happily ever after without him, but she wasn't the writer. She was simply the actor, the puppet mouthing the words.

This was the type of role she hated. Sure, there were things she liked about Erin, such as her drive. Later in the movie Erin reveals she hopes to one day open her own low-cost vet clinic and someday retire to a big house in the country with a lot of land so she could open up an adoption center for dogs where they received love and care while waiting for adoption—open to the public so people could come and socialize the dogs and hopefully fall in love with one of them enough to adopt. That was the only thing that kept her from calling her mother upon finishing the script and telling her to pull out immediately.

Other than that, the story sucked. And Erin wasn't the main character. This was Dean's story. Jack Spheer was number one on the call sheet. Sure, she was number two, but she hated that a female character who had so much potential once again played second fiddle to a boring, one-dimensional male lead. But what did she expect? It was written by Eobard Thawne. All of his movies followed the same boring, overused plot. And nepotism was alive and well because his nephew was playing the dumbass best friend to Dean.

At least there was another woman in the cast, even if she had very little purpose other than convince Erin to give Dean chance after chance. Andrea Rojas was playing her character's roommate, and honestly Lena had to Google who that was before the camera test because she'd never heard the name before in her life. Andrea had few roles under her belt—two movies and a couple of episodes on various shows, none of which Lena had seen.

Going into the camera test was daunting. The rest of the cast had been apart of this movie for weeks, if not months. They'd done read-throughs and had a chance to get to know each other and bond. Lena was going in blind. It felt like starting at a new school halfway through the year— at least she imagined since she'd been homeschooled or tutored on-set growing up (she did portray a character that was a new kid in school once, though, but she didn't think that counted).

Thankfully, though, the cast was extremely nice upon first greeting her. To be fair, though, they were all actors. They knew how to put on that they were nice at first. There was little time to socialize, though, before she was whisked into hair and makeup. Then she got into wardrobe, and she was pleasantly surprised at how much she liked the outfit. I was a simple, grey blouse and skinny jeans with sensible sneakers. It was something she would wear on her own.

The camera test took place on the soundstage they were apparently set to film at for the last few weeks of filming. Her trailer was in the small basecamp in the parking lot. When she stepped out to head to stage, she was greeted by her assistant holding out a coffee and offering a smile.

Lena returned it when she took the latte. "Thanks, Jess," she said appreciatively.

She'd worked with Jess before. She'd been a cast Production Assistant—or PA—on a few different shows Lena had worked on. She'd never been important enough to have her own personal assistant before and was about to turn it down until she found out it would be Jess. She _loved_ Jess. Lena didn't often make it a habit to talk to people on set, but one day Jess asked her about the book she was reading in between scenes, and that got them on a long discussion about their favorite authors. The next day Lena brought Jess a copy of one of her favorite books, and the day after that Jess brought her a copy of one of hers. After that Lena considered Jess somewhat of a friend, even if they only socialized at work.

But now Jess was all hers for the whole show, and she was showing up with her favorite coffee without having to be asked, and Lena felt better about the whole thing.

"You're an angel," Lena said before talking a sip of her skinny vanilla latte. "How did you remember?"

"It's not a hard order, Ms. Luthor," Jess said with a laugh as she swung long, dark hair over her shoulder. She smiled again, and it reached her dark brown eyes.

"Jess, please call me Lena," she said for what felt like at least the tenth time. "And also, please tell me you didn't pay for this with your own money. If so, I'll pay you back."

"Oh, no," Jess said quickly, shaking her head. "Production gave me a credit card to buy whatever you need. It's all covered."

Lena blinked with amazement. Okay, so maybe bigger budget productions did have their perks. "Okay, but you don't have to do this every day. I'm fine just drinking crafty coffee."

"I know," Jess said. "But we don't have crafty today, and you mentioned needing another coffee on the way in." Another smile.

"You're fucking brilliant, do you know that?" she asked, laughing a little. "So, tell me, what have you been reading? Anything good?"

Jess shrugged. "I finally got around to reading the final book in _A Song of Ice and Fire_ series," she said. "Now I'm just upset that there's no ending to the books yet, and I don't even have the show to get my fix anymore."

"I _know_," Lena said as she sipped her latte again, fighting the urge to smile. She'd been the one to suggest Jess read the _Game of Thrones_ books, and now she felt partially responsible.

"It's a tragedy," said a deep voice with a British accent, and they turned to see Jack Spheer had emerged from his trailer. His dark hair was swept back, his beard was neatly trimmed, and his costume for the shoot was simple grey slacks and a red sweater.

Lena had to admit he was objectively handsome, but she wasn't attracted to him. However, if she was going to have to pretend to be in love with a man, she supposed he wasn't the worst choice in the world.

"Have you read them?" Lena asked interestedly.

"Many times," Jack said as he approached, a tiny man with mousy features and spiked brown hair at his elbow. "I even auditioned for the show and was heartbroken when I wasn't cast." He smiled as he stood before Jess and Lena, offering his hand out to Jess. "Hi, we haven't met yet. I'm Jack."

Jess blinked at him, seemingly star-struck for all of a moment before shaking his hand quickly. "Jess, Lena's assistant."

"Lovely," he said, then gestured to the nervous-looking man at his side. "This is my assistant, Winn." He clapped the tiny man on the shoulder. "Do you like _Game of Thrones_, Winn?" he asked.

Lena found herself smiling at that. Many times actors ignored their assistants or treated them like crap. From first impressions, though, Jack seemed genuinely nice and wanting to include Winn. First, he remembered his name—that was better than most actors. Second, he went out of his way to interject Winn in the conversation after introducing him.

"I—uh, yeah—I mean, of course!" Winn said quickly, seemingly suddenly aware of all the eyes on him.

Jack laughed and squeezed Winn's shoulder before letting go. "Good man," he nodded to Lena. "Thank you for joining our cast last minute, Lena. I'm looking forward to working with you."

"Likewise," Lena said, surprised to find herself meaning it if Jack was going to be this pleasant going forward. But only time would tell.

"Well, shall we get to it, then?" Jack asked, gesturing towards the warehouse that acted as a soundstage.

Lena nodded, and they set off. Behind her, she heard Jess say into her walkie that she and Jack were self-motivating inside. She tried to shirk off the odd feeling she got every time she was aware of people watching her every move and being concerned with her whereabouts. But then again, she reminded herself, wasn't that the typical life of a celebrity?

* * *

Thankfully the camera test didn't take long, and Jess was driving her back across the city to her home around dinnertime. Her plan for the rest of the evening was to soak in a hot bath, have a glass or two of wine, and go over her lines for the next day before going to sleep for her early call time.

But her mother called before she even unlocked her door, and Lena knew she would keep calling until she answered. So, she cradled the phone in her neck as she pushed open the door and entered the loft.

"Yes, Mother?" she asked as she dropped her keys on the end table by the door.

"How did the camera test go?" Lillian asked, getting right to business, which Lena was appreciative of. She wasn't in the mood to trade pointless niceties.

"Fine, uneventful," Lena said, because it had been.

"What's Jack Spheer like?" Lillian asked, and Lena heard a hint of jealousy mixed with interest in her voice that made the brunette roll her eyes. Could Lillian just not be a cougar for, like, five seconds?

"He's nice," was all Lena said.

There was a pause, and then Lillian asked, "Isn't he _handsome_?"

"I guess he would be what people who are attracted to men would call handsome, but as I've told you before, I'm a lesbian so he does nothing for me," Lena shot at her, knowing where Lillian had been going with her dumbass question.

"No one needs to know, that, though," Lillian said, a statement that sounded like an automated response. "I've been thinking—"

"That's never good," Lena muttered.

"Don't be rude, Lena, it's unbecoming," Lillian chastised. "But what I was going to say is that you really do need to reconsider this anti-social media attitude you have."

"Here we go again," Lena said with an eye-roll.

It wasn't that she was against social media in general, it just wasn't for her. She had little interest of being part of an online world where people could facelessly criticize her for literally everything she did. And not to mention she simply didn't care about it. She was a private person, and her life was in the spotlight enough without her drawing more attention to herself.

"It would be good for your career," Lillian insisted. "Not to mention most contracts now come with an added part about promoting the project through social media."

"If the star already has social media, which I don't," Lena shot back as she walked through her loft to her kitchen and grabbed a fresh bottle of wine from the rack on the counter. "I don't _want _it."

"You hardly have to post anything at all!" Lillian's voice was high and agitated. "Just get an Instagram and take a few selfies on set. It's not that difficult, Lena."

"Why does it matter?" she questioned, frowning as she struggled to get the foil off the bottle.

"It's just self-promotion, dear," her mother responded. "And maybe take a couple with Jack just to generate some buzz."

"There it is: the catch," Lena said as she succeeded in removing the foil and tossed it in the waste bin before retrieving the corkscrew from its drawer. "You want me to add fuel to the fire when the rumors start swirling around that Jack and I are romantically involved on and off-camera." She knew it would happen. It always did. She couldn't so much as breathe on-screen with a man without fans thinking they were fucking behind the scenes, and Lillian loved every second of it because it covered up what she felt was Lena's dirty little secret.

"Not necessarily," Lillian said carefully. "But would it kill you to make an effort to at least appear like you enjoy your job and being around your costars?"

Lena exhaled loudly through her nose, cradling her phone under her chin again as she opened the bottle of wine. "I'll think about it." Which is what she always said, but she never did. The answer would always be no.

She heard Lillian click her tongue on the other end. "Fine, but we will talk about this again soon," she promised, and Lena didn't doubt the sincerity of the statement in the slightest.

"Sure," Lena said dismissively. "Is there anything else, or can I go? I want to go over my lines before tomorrow."

"Oh, sorry, I didn't realize talking to your mother was so bothersome," Lillian said sarcastically, but the irony was that it actually was bothersome.

"I just want to be prepared," Lena said heatedly as she carried the bottle of wine through her loft to the bathroom so she could start running a bath. "Usually I have more time to learn my lines, but you threw me into this last second."

"Don't be angry with me for advancing your career," her mother said darkly, and Lena resisted the urge to laugh spitefully. "You should be grateful for me getting you this opportunity."

There were a million things Lena wanted to say to that, none of them nice. So instead she just said, "Goodnight, Mother," and hung up before Lillian got another chance to say something else that made her skin crawl.

She filled the tub with scalding hot water and submerged herself under the sudsy water, drinking her wine straight from the bottle. She stared into space, willing her mind to numb with each sip of bitter yet sweet Merlot. By the time she was ready to get out the bottle was empty, and her toes and fingers were pruned, but at least she'd lost the urge to cry just thinking about the day ahead.

Lena ate leftover Chinese takeout before getting into bed and trying to study her lines. But her wine-slogged mine was fuzzy. She found herself reading the same page over and over, and then her head was lolling to the side as her eyelids became increasingly heavier. She fell asleep with the script on her chest, still on the same page she'd originally opened it to.

* * *

**I promise they'll meet next chapter but for now I hope you enjoyed the world building.**

**Until next time.**


	3. Starstruck

**I'd like to apologize in advance to Oliver Queen for defamation of character.**

* * *

Kara didn't think the overwhelming feeling of dread she had in the pit of her stomach was a good sign as she readied herself to leave for the first day of shooting. But she tried her best to push it down as she groggily got dressed and grabbed the backpack she'd prepped the night before. She didn't like to do it in the morning because she was usually so tired she forgot something nine times out of ten. She'd learned, though, to have her backpack, keys, and fanny pack waiting on the couch so all she had to do was grab them and walk out the door.

First days of filming usually had an early call time. The earliest she'd ever had to be on set was four-thirty in the morning. Those were the hardest days for Kara. She was a night owl, hating mornings with every fiber of her being. Waking up before noon was something she simply didn't do in her day-to-day life when she wasn't working.

But she knew as filming went on there was going to be deviating from the schedule, and call times would undoubtedly start to push later as they began to really get into it. Plus, there were the night shoots closer to the end of the movie. She couldn't wait for those. That's when she thrived.

The promise of that helped propel her out of bed when her alarm went off. And a huge glass of ice coffee helped somewhat to make her more coherent, but it was gone much too quickly. She had a second in her hand as she climbed into the truck to start making her way to the sugar plant to pick up the trailer.

She sighed as she looked down and remembered the truck had no cupholders. Settling the cup between her legs, she grabbed the portable Bluetooth speaker from the side pouch of her backpack and set up the music before starting her journey. She despised the radio, but even if she listened to it, it wouldn't have mattered—the truck's radio hadn't worked since 2012, according to Clark. But she needed something other than the roar of the truck and her anxious thoughts to occupy her mind.

It was just after six a.m. when she pulled the truck away from the curb in front of her house and started making her way across National City. Thankfully traffic wasn't heavy yet, and she arrived well before the sun started to come up. Nia was already there, out of her car and ready to help Kara back up the truck to hookup the trailer. Siobhan was to meet them at set since Kara had a feeling she would have not only been useless, but would have probably slowed them down.

It didn't take too long to get hooked up, and thankfully they were on their way soon. Nia led in her SUV, Kara following as closely as she could behind. She'd been tired before, but pulling the trailer surely woke her up. Every nerve seemed to be alive, and her anxiety was through the roof. Thankfully, though, they didn't have to go far. The first day of filming was in a small veterinary clinic only about ten minutes from the sugar plant.

The closer they got to set, Kara began to see the yellow signs that pointed them in the right direction. They were accompanied by black arrows and the letters "PL," which Kara knew meant _Puppy Love_. As they approached the clinic, the working trucks came into view, and Kara knew they were there.

A tall, pale, skinny man about her own age with brown hair was in the street holding a walkie. He also wore a yellow safety vest, so Kara assumed he was with the Locations Department. He flagged her down, and she screeched the truck and trailer to a halt as Nia pulled off to the side to wait for further instruction.

The young man motioned for Kara to roll the window down, but Kara just shook her head and opened the door. "Sorry," she said loudly to be heard over the truck. "Windows don't work."

"That's okay," he said with a smile as curious brown eyes roamed over the contraption then back to her. "I'm Barry, Locations," he said, holding his hand out for a shake.

"Kara, Crafty," she said, returning it briefly before asking, "Do you know where I should be going, Barry?" She made sure to repeat his name because she had a hard time remembering, especially in the first few days. She met so many knew people it was hard to keep track.

"Yeah, we've got a spot for you right up there," Barry said, pointing to an area further down marked off with cones. "Let me get those cones out of the way, and I'll help you pull in."

"Thank you," Kara said appreciatively. "My assistant is right there with her vehicle." She pointed to Nia's silver Nissan Xterra idling on the curb. "Think we can find a spot for her?"

"Sure." Barry nodded. "Just have her pull up right behind you." He started to walk off to move the cones.

Kara breathed out as she watched Barry gather them up, then he motioned her forward and she eased off the brake. He guided her into the spot, helping her to straighten out alongside the curb, and thankfully there was no backing up involved, so she was able to get it correct on the first try.

"Thanks," she said again as she hopped out of the truck. "This isn't my rig, and I'm new to driving it," she said hastily. "I'm probably going to need help with it in the future."

"No problem, Kara," Barry said with an easy smile, and Kara oddly felt herself liking him already. "Let me know if there's anything I can do." He nodded and smiled again before walking off.

Nia parked her SUV behind the trailer and hopped out as Kara was grabbing her phone from the front seat of the truck. "Where's Siobhan?" she asked instantly, looking around to see if she could catch sight of her.

"She texted me as we landed to say she was at base and catching a van," Kara said, typing out a response before sliding the phone into her pocket. "Should be here soon. In the meantime, let's start getting shit out."

"Roger that, boss," Nia said with a smirk.

Kara smiled at that, for the first and hopefully not the last time that day. Then they busied themselves with dragging coolers out and draining them—they'd loaded them with drinks the day before. Then they lined a few trash cans with bags and each took one and a cooler and headed up the street to the veterinary clinic.

It wasn't a long walk, but Kara knew it would get tiring lugging stuff up and down the block all day. And as the sun began to come up and the humidity in the air thickened, Kara was sure it was only a matter of time before she was drenched in sweat.

In the parking lot of the vet's office there were a number of crew scattered about already working. Call time was seven, and crafty hadn't had a pre-call—which was weird. It made sense for them to be called at least half an hour before crew, that way they could have everything set up for when people started coming in. Starting at the same time of the rest of the crew meant they were already starting in the weeds.

But she tried not to let it show as she plastered on a smile and approached the thicket of AD staff. She knew two of them from a previous show—Oliver and Mike. They weren't so bad, she didn't exactly have a problem with them. But they were total dude-bros, the kind of guys she would never associate with outside of work.

"Good morning," she said in greeting as she and Nia walked up, trashcans and coolers in hand.

"Hey, Kara," Oliver said, nodding stoically in her direction. He was tall, towering over her. He kept his blond hair cropped short she noticed the few times he took off his ballcap. She also noticed when they started going well over schedule, he became agitated and rubbed as his stubbly beard so incessantly she wondered how he didn't have bald patches. "What can I do for you?"

"We were just wondering where to set up," Kara said.

"Well, this whole parking lot is in frame for the first shot, so nowhere out here," Mike said, jumping in as usual. That was something she picked up on about him. He was a Key Set PA, sure, but Oliver was the second-second AD. He knew way more than Mike. But Mike thought he was hot shit. It was obvious in the way he carried himself. He had brown hair he'd made sure to stick up in just the right fashion to appear like he didn't spend much time on it, even though Kara was sure he did. And since she'd last seen him, he'd grown a beard to match Oliver's. When he spoke, it was always with an air of arrogance, and Kara had to try really hard to like him sometimes.

"It's just an establishing shot, though," Oliver said, already starting to rub at his beard. "Should have space for you right at the edge of the parking lot, then we move inside, and this whole lot is fair game."

"Copy that," Kara responded with a nod. "Do you have walkies for us?"

"Sure," Mike said, then turned to whistle at a PA standing a few yards away. "Hey, Brainy, do you have walkies for crafty?"

"I do," Brainy responded, instantly jumping into action and going into the box of walkies at his side.

"How many do you need?" Mike asked.

Kara opened her mouth to answer, but Brainy beat her to it. "There are three members of the craft services department: the key, Kara Danvers, and her assistants, Nia Nal and Siobhan Smythe," he said, taking three walkies from the kit, then briskly walking over to hand them to Kara and Nia. Their names were already written on them in neat handwriting. "There is Siobhan's as well. I trust you'll give it to her."

"Sure will. Thanks, Brainy," Kara said, dropping the things in her hands briefly to take them from him, instantly clipping them to the strap of her fanny pack.

"How long 'til coffee?" Mike asked, looking to Kara questioningly.

Kara stared at him for a moment, feeling on the spot. They'd only just landed and hadn't even officially put out drinks and trash cans yet. Obviously, they were nowhere near having coffee ready. But Kara just put on a smile like she'd learned and tried her best to keep the agitation off her face.

"Just give us a little bit and let us get set up," she responded and turned away to drag the cooler to the corner of the parking lot.

"What an ass," Nia muttered when they were out of earshot. "We literally just got here. Can he not wait five minutes?"

"Nia, it's like you're reading my mind, dude," Kara said with a sigh as she dropped the load. "Come on. Let's just leave this here and start getting stuff."

When they got back to the trailer Siobhan was waiting inside, and it appeared she was texting. Kara bit her lip because even if she didn't know exactly what to do, surely the numerous coolers still taking up the walking space in the trailer was an obvious first task.

"Good morning, love," Siobhan cooed, slipping her phone into her pocket before hugging Kara. "What's up first?"

Kara gestured to the ice chests. "Can you help Nia get these out while I fire up the generator?"

Siobhan eyed the objects in question, her face falling at the prospect of manual labor. "Okay," she said dully.

"Great!" Kara did her best to sound upbeat.

While those two lugged the coolers down the wooden steps, Kara busied herself getting power to the trailer and then getting coffee started. With that going, they all began to drag equipment up the street to set. But when they were halfway there Kara heard them calling for crafty on the radio.

She stopped to answer, Nia continuing with another cooler, while Siobhan stopped and unnecessarily waited for Kara. Kara had to wave her hand and urge her on while she switched to channel two on the walkie—channel one being for main stuff and two reserved for quick chit chats.

"Crafty on two," she said, holding up the walkie to her mouth to talk because she hadn't put on her headset yet.

"Hey, crafty, it's Eve at base," said the voice that responded, and Kara recalled seeing someone named Eve on the callsheet. She was the basecamp PA. "Can we get a cooler down here when you get a second?"

Shit. That should have happened already, but she was so preoccupied with getting set situated that she completely forgot.

"Sure thing," Kara said quickly. "I'll bring one over in a bit."

"Thank you," Eve responded. "Back to one."

Kara finished bringing the cooler she was dragging to set, thankful Siobhan had already set up the table she'd carried with a table cloth. Nia was about to head back to the trailer when Kara caught her.

"Hang on one second," Kara said, stopping Nia in her tracks. "Siobhan," Kara said in the tiny brunette's direction, dragging her attention away from meticulously straightening out the tablecloth. "Come see really quick."

"What's up, babes?" Siobhan asked with a smile as she bounced over to Kara and Nia.

She motioned for them to follow her, and they began walking back to the trailer, Kara talking over her shoulder as she went. "I have to run to basecamp and give them a cooler," Kara said quickly. "So, I need to unhook the truck and go do that. I need you two to continue getting set up here. When the coffee in the trailer is done, put it in the airpot and get the coffee cart down here." She pointed to Nia. "Can you find an electrician and see about getting power to where we'll be?"

"Sure," Nia said, nodding. "I saw Cisco a minute ago. He should be able to help out."

"Great," Kara said with a smile. One of the best things about working with Nia was she was friends with nearly everyone. She was the biggest extrovert Kara had ever met, and she needed someone like that because it always made her uneasy to ask favors of people she didn't know. "If you can't find him, look for my friend James. He's on this show, too. Tall, bald, African American."

Nia nodded again. "I know of him. Copy you, boss."

Kara smirked. She could get used to being called boss. "And Siobhan…" She paused to think how Siobhan would be most useful. "Just help Nia get stuff down there and keep on making coffee."

"Sure thing, my dear," Siobhan said in a sing-song voice, and Kara wondered for a moment why she always referred to her by a pet name instead of her actual name.

But that wasn't important then. She needed to get drinks to base, so she made a beeline for the truck and began unhooking it. And then she was off, truck rumbling through the narrow streets to the basecamp a few blocks away. She pulled into the lot with all the trailers and parked where she wouldn't be in the way of the transportation vans going in and out.

Kara lifted the window to the covered bed and hopped on the back of the truck. The tailgate always stuck when pulling it down, so she had to finagle it by pulling the handle, pushing up and in, then pulling it down. All without falling flat on her ass, like she was prone to do with her clumsy nature. But she managed and wrestled the heavy cooler out of the back, glad she and Nia had the sense to load it in the previous evening.

Then she found the AD trailer and set it right outside the door. As soon as she did the door opened, and a tiny woman with blonde curls stood there and blinked at her.

"Oh, thanks!" she said with a smile. "Are you with crafty?"

_No, I'm just dragging this cooler around for fun_, Kara thought, but simply nodded instead of voicing her thoughts.

"I'm Eve," the woman said, walking down the steps and extending her hand. "We spoke on radio."

"Kara, nice to meet you," she said, returning the formal shake before dropping her hands to her side again. "I've got your cooler, and I'm going to put together a care package of snacks for your trailer when I get a second."

"Awesome, thanks!"

"I also have some snacks for Jack Spheer that he requested that I want to get into his trailer at some point," Kara went on. "I was going to get stuff for Felicity Smoak, but I heard she pulled out."

"Correct," Eve said, nodding. "We have a different actress now."

She didn't say who, and Kara didn't want to ask, so she instead she questioned, "Do you know if she has any requests or anything?"

"I don't," Eve said. "But I'm about to go invite her to set, if you want to follow me. Maybe you can ask her assistant."

"Sure," she said, though a little nagging voice inside her head told her she needed to get back to set as quickly as possible.

She followed Eve to the next set of trailers, where a man she'd met before named Winn was talking to a dark-haired woman she'd never seen before.

"Jess, this is Kara. She's with crafty. She wants to know if there will be any requests," Eve said when they approached.

Kara glanced at the door to the trailer they were standing outside of, but the tape on the window did little to tell her who was inside. Only the character's name was written on it, and Kara hadn't thought to look at that part of the callsheet to see who'd replaced Felicity. But now curiosity was getting the better of her.

"Hi, Kara," Jess said warmly. "Uh, no, I don't think there will be any requests. She's pretty easy-going."

"Are you sure?" Kara asked, glancing over at the trailer again as Eve went to knock on the door to the trailer. It was rare one of the main stars didn't ask for at least _something_.

"You should ask her," Jess said. "I've never heard of her making demands, but I've also never worked with her directly like this before." Kara's eyes widened at that, and Jess quickly added with a smile, "Don't worry, she's really nice. Just ask her when she walks out."

But Eve had only just knocked on the door, so she didn't know how long she would have to wait, and she _had _to get back to set. It was making her nervous every moment she wasn't there helping Nia and Siobhan.

Thankfully, though, the trailer door opened moments later, and Kara's blue eyes looked up out of pure reflex, but when she saw who stood in the doorway, she wanted to kick herself for audibly gasping. She should have looked at the callsheet. That way maybe she could have been mentally prepared to see Lena Luthor existing in the same vicinity as her, but she didn't know if there was anything that could truly mentally prepare a person for meeting their biggest celebrity crush.

Corny as it sounded, time seemed to slow in that moment. Everything around Kara faded away, and all she saw were green eyes staring back at her as Lena paused in the doorway. Kara's heart was in her throat as she realized Lena was looking back at her, and she knew she should look away, but she was frozen on the spot.

"We're ready for you, Ms. Luthor," Eve said, snapping them both back to attention.

Lena shook her head and smiled down at Eve. "I'm ready," she said, descending the steps as Eve moved out of the way.

"Lena, this is Kara," Jess said as Lena approached, and Kara felt her face burning. "She's with crafty. Is there anything special you want for your trailer?"

Lena eyed Kara, who stiffened in awareness of how stupid she looked. She didn't dress up for work. If anything, she dressed down. She wore old t-shirts and athletic shorts because she always somehow found a way to get dirty, and she had a fanny pack fastened around her waist to keep track of her wallet and belongings throughout the day. Fanny packs were lame, but they were essential onset, and she wasn't the only one who sported one. It didn't make her feel like any less of a dork, though. At least hers had the Supergirl/Superman logo on it, so it was kind of cute.

"No, that's quite alright," Lena said, but she held out her hand in greeting. "Hi, I'm Lena." She grinned, all beautiful and pearly white teeth, and Kara's heart skipped a beat.

Somehow, she managed to reach out and take the hand, instantly reveling in the softness of Lena's hand compared to her own, which were rough and callused. "Kara," she heard herself squeak out, and then cleared her throat. "But some people call me Supergirl." As soon as she said it, she hated herself for it, and she hoped the heat could excuse the blush creeping up her neck. _Why _did she say that?

Lena laughed, though, as she gestured to Kara's fanny pack. "I won't forget that." She smiled again, and Kara felt slightly better. "Is that pack why?"

"Yes and no," Kara said with a shrug. "Some people started calling me that before I got this, so when I needed a new one, I just got one with the Super logo on it. This just solidified the nickname." Oh god, she needed to stop talking. She was just making herself look like a huge nerd.

But Lena seemed intrigued. "Why did they originally start calling you Supergirl?"

Kara scuffed the toe of her hiking boot on the ground and ducked her head shyly. "It's kind of dumb, but this guy one day told me that every time he sees me, I'm running somewhere or carrying something no one my body size should be able to carry, so he said I'm like Supergirl. He started calling me that, other people heard it, it caught on, and now here we are."

"Fascinating," Lena said, though Kara felt like it was anything but. But when she picked her head up again, the way Lena was looking at her made it feel like it was, and her whole body hummed with excitement.

"Yeah," she said lamely, then she glanced at Eve to see the PA staring at them impatiently, and she remembered herself. "Well, I better get back to set."

"Yes, they need me there as well," Lena said. "Are you going to take a van? Eve could maybe take you, too, instead. Might get there quicker."

Kara was taken aback, and the naïve part of her hoped Lena's question meant she wanted to spend more time near her. But that was illogical. "No, I have a truck—my _boss's _truck," she said, making sure Lena knew the piece of shit she was going to drive away in didn't belong to her. She smiled, pulled the keys from her pocket, and jingled them in her hands. "Lena, it was nice to meet you. I'm sure I'll see you at set. And if you change your mind about snacks, or if you think of anything you want, please let me know."

"I will. Thanks, Kara," she gave another smile, and Kara practically melted inside.

She watched wistfully as Lena and Jess got into a black SUV before remembering there was another star of the movie and turning to Winn. "Hey, you're Jack's assistant, right?" Kara asked him. She'd met briefly on another show a while back, but they'd been put in contact through production about Jack's list of requests for this one.

"Yes, Winn," he said with a nod, and Kara was thankful she didn't have to do yet another handshake. "You were on a day of _Darkness Comes_, right?"

"Yeah, that was my first show Clark and doing crafty," Kara said with a smile, glad he remembered. "Now I'm running this show."

Winn whistled lowly through his teeth. "No kidding. Good for you."

"Thanks," she said, then added, "I got everything for Jack. Let me know what he wants in his trailer, and we'll make sure it gets here."

"Thanks, Kara," Winn said appreciatively. "He hasn't asked for anything yet. He's actually pretty chill so far, and I'm hoping it stays that way."

"Me too," Kara agreed. Needy and demanding actors made her day significantly harder.

She said goodbye to Winn and started to head back to the truck, and Jess drove by with Lena as she walked through the gravel lot. Lena was in the front seat, and as they went by, she locked eyes with Kara again, and Kara was so startled she dropped the truck keys and had to pause to pick them up again.

As she watched the vehicle pull out of the parking lot and onto the road, Kara silently cursed herself for getting so worked up over an actress. It'd never happened before. She prided herself on keeping her composition in front of the talent, even if she loved them. She'd actually become pretty desensitized to it, hardly even batting an eyelash when she was introduced to someone famous. But this was _Lena Luthor_, someone she'd been so enamored with at one point that she'd tracked down and watched every single thing on Lena's IMDB list.

So for the first time, Kara was truly starstruck.

* * *

Lena was quiet on the way to set, her mind not able to leave the blonde woman she'd just met. Objectively there was nothing special about her. Sure, she was cute. That much was obvious. But there was absolutely no reason Lena should have been sitting there thinking about how blue her eyes were, or how strong her hand felt when she shook Lena's, or the way her hair swung in its ponytail underneath her cap.

Yet there she was, thinking about her—about Kara. The initial attraction she felt when she first stepped out of her trailer and saw this woman standing there registered, but she was utterly confused by it. Kara was in no way her type.

Lena usually went for edgy women, women who mainly only wanted her company for a night rather than long-term. It was easier that way, with no steady partner to try to take her out in public or make their relationship known. The women she dated dressed to kill as well, and in all honesty, they sometimes made her feel inadequate. But Kara was standing there in a black t-shirt that said, "Feminist AF" and basketball shorts, and there was no reason it should have awakened anything in Lena. Yet, as they pulled up to set, she couldn't help wondering what those rough, strong hands would feel like roaming her body.

As she stepped out of the rental vehicle production had gotten for Jess to transport her to and from set, she took in a few breaths to calm herself. She needed to get her mind out of the gutter and back on track. The first scene was hers. It was simple enough, just walking across the parking lot and into the veterinary clinic, but she still needed to be in the right headspace. She was about to go into a day acting out lines she'd barely learned, become a character she hardly knew. There was no room for uncharacteristic fantasies popping up.

The director was Maxwell Lord, and he seemed nice enough, but something about him made Lena feel uneasy, and she was glad she'd never had to be alone with him yet. Something about him heightened her fight or flight senses, something she couldn't quite put her finger on but was uninterested on thinking too deeply into. She was just here to do a job. She didn't need to get chummy with the director.

Thankfully they were all about business that morning, and she did the entering scene quickly after getting to set. Then they moved inside, and she was directed to a chair inside to wait for them to finish lighting the next scene, where Dean would bring his dog into the vet for the first time. Jack's chair was set up and waiting for him next to hers, and she hoped he wasn't feeling especially chatty that morning. She just wanted to go over her lines in peace so she wouldn't make a fool of herself by forgetting them when they went to roll.

She was studying her script when he arrived, and when he greeted her with a good morning, she didn't even look up from the sides in her hands. He yawned as he sat down beside her, a set of sides in his hands as well.

"Excited to start?" Jack asked, glancing at Lena briefly.

"Nervous," Lena admitted, her eyes still not traveling to him. "Just want to make sure I get my lines down."

"Me too," Jack said, holding up his set of sides. "Want to run them with me?"

Lena hesitated for a moment. She wanted to say no since normally she didn't need help. But normally she had much more time to prepare and had done a read-through with the cast beforehand. It was probably a good idea to run lines with Jack before they got on screen together. Also, before they brought the dog in, which could add some confusion to the mix. Cast animals were always hit or miss. It was hard to get an animal to take direction, and if the animal wasn't well-trained sometimes things got rough. If there was going to be a dog going bonkers throughout her scene, she wanted to at least make sure she knew her lines in case she got distracted and had to easily pick up the scene again.

"Sure," she said finally.

They began to read together, and Lena had to say she was impressed by Jack. His lines were kind of shit, but they didn't sound so bad with his deep voice and British accent. Maybe that was why they cast him—so no one would notice how awful the things he was saying were as long as it was said in a pretty voice and coming from an attractive man.

The scene wasn't a major one, just the characters seeing each other for the second time and hers offering to help his learn to be a pet owner that can actually keep his dog alive. But there were still lines that were flirtatious, and Lena felt so false and robotic when saying them.

No one else seemed to notice when they filmed the scene, though, and thankfully the dog was more well-behaved and took cues better than most human actors she'd worked with, so they were moving onto the next camera angle in no time. It was supposed to be a closeup on Jack, but she still needed to be there to say her lines. She felt better about it since she wouldn't even be on camera and she'd had the wide shot to feel reassured in her ability to remember her lines.

That was why she felt okay walking away from her chair for a cup of coffee in between the next setup. She'd been wanting one all morning, and though Jess was there and able to get it for her, Lena wanted to make it herself. It wasn't about her being picky over the way she wanted it—she drank it black most of the time—but because even though she couldn't explain why, she really wanted to go near the crafty setup so she could catch a glimpse of Kara.

But when she approached the tent that had tables of food and a cart with coffee fixings under it, the blonde was sadly nowhere to be seen. There was a different woman, tall and wearing all black, stocking coolers with ice and drinks, but that was the only other person at the setup other than herself. Lena almost turned around and went back inside when Kara wasn't there, but then she smelled coffee brewing and couldn't resist.

She poured the cup much slower than she needed to and added creamer and sugar to it, which she never did, simply to prolong the amount of time she spent there in case Kara turned up. And even when her coffee was obviously much too sweet for her to even enjoy, she still stayed loitering by the tables, scanning their contents in an attempt to look like she was curious about the setup, and not the girl doing the setting up.

"See anything you like?" came a voice behind Lena, and her heart hammered in her chest as she whirled around the see the person she'd come looking for standing there, as if Lena's wanting her to appear had made it happen.

Lena smirked at Kara. "Just browsing," she said, taking a quick sip of coffee before gesturing to the table. "Impressive spread. I didn't know there were this many types of Oreo's." She gestured to the six different packages of flavors, ranging from regular to pistachio.

"This isn't even close to all the kinds they make, either," Kara said conversationally before picking up the package that was peanut butter flavor. "These are my favorite, though."

"I'll keep that in mind," Lena said with a laugh. "Maybe I'll try one after lunch. It's a little too early right now."

"Suit yourself." Kara shrugged and set the package back down. "They may not be around, though. The good stuff goes fast." She paused for a moment, seeming to remember suddenly why she was there. "Which reminds me… Excuse me."

Kara turned and went over to the woman stocking the coolers, who Lena heard Kara refer to as Nia. Bad as it was to eavesdrop, Lena was standing close enough to hear their conversation.

"Maybe if things slow down after lunch, I'll send you shopping for tomorrow," Kara was saying to Nia as Lena pretended to read the nutrition facts on the back of a granola bar.

"Why can't you send Siobhan?" Nia shot back. "I'm better on set."

"I know," Kara said with a nod. "But you're also better at shopping, and I need someone who will be quick about it and get _everything_ we need." She shrugged. "Normally I'd go, but I don't feel right leaving."

Nia sighed, but also nodded her agreement. "You're the boss."

Lena nearly dropped the granola bar at that. Kara was the _boss_? How? She looked to be about Lena's age, nowhere near old enough to own and operate her own company. And Lena had explicitly heard Kara say she was driving her boss's truck. And why did her being key crafty instead of an assistant make her inexplicably more attractive to Lena?

"Thank you," Kara said to Nia. "And you're kicking ass today, by the way. Seriously, thank you for being a part of my team. I'd be completely fucked without you."

Lena smiled at that, respecting the way Kara built up her employee and made sure she knew her value. Too often she'd heard crew members yelling at and belittling the people under them, and it was unsettling how often the crew just took it without batting an eyelash.

"Tell me about it," Nia said with a groan. "What the fuck is Siobhan even doing? I haven't seen her on set once."

"I don't know what she's been doing, to tell you the truth," Kara said, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "I have her cutting up meat and cheese to pass around to crew right now, but every time I've gone back to the trailer she's been playing on her phone."

Nia shook her head and sighed. "Dude."

"I know," Kara said quickly. "I'm going to have another talk with her."

"Good because I'm gonna go off on that bitch," Nia said, starting to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Kara called after her.

"To light a fire under her ass in case she's taking too long," Nia returned over her shoulder and kept walking.

Kara sighed and turned back to the setup, her eyebrows shooting up in surprise when she saw Lena still standing there. She cleared her throat and approached slowly, almost bashfully.

"Sorry you had to hear some of that," Kara began, not meeting Lena's eye.

"It's okay."

"No, it's not. It's unprofessional," Kara said, sighing heavily. "No one needs to hear about our shit."

"Kara, seriously, it's fine," Lena said, and when the blonde finally looked her in the eye again, she gave her a reassuring smile. "I've heard plenty worse from just about every department. Don't worry about it." That seemed to calm the slightly taller woman, because Lena saw some of the tension ease from her shoulders. "So, you're key crafty?"

"Yes," Kara said with a nod, swelling with pride. "This is the first show I key."

"Really?" Lena's eyebrows shot up with interest.

"Yeah, I usually work under this guy named Clark, but his wife had a baby, so he's taking time off," Kara explained with an apprehensive smile.

"Wow," Lena said, taking another sip of the disgusting coffee she'd made and trying not to grimace as she swallowed. "Are you excited?" she asked, to which Kara hesitated, and Lena added, "Or nervous?"

"Uh… Little of both," Kara said with a small chuckle. "It's really exciting to get this opportunity, but incredibly daunting at the same time. I just want to do a good job my first time on my own, you know?"

Lena nodded, somewhat understanding. At least she understood not wanting to fail. It was a universal feeling, after all. "How long have you been doing crafty?" she asked.

Kara opened her mouth to answer before stopping, mouth still open, and held her hand to the earpiece in her right ear. She listened for a moment before looking to Lena apologetically. "Sorry, they're calling for me—"

"No, it's fine," Lena said quickly, not wanting to distract Kara from her work. "I should probably get back to set anyway."

"Probably," Kara said, smiling. "Talk to you later?"

"Sure," Lena said, and couldn't stop herself from biting her lip as she glanced at the ground and walked away from the crafty tent.

* * *

Sadly, later never came because every time Lena saw Kara after that she was doing exactly what she'd said she did in order to earn the nickname Supergirl. Literally the only time Kara wasn't doing something was the two times she'd spoken to Lena. Other than that Lena only saw her from afar or in passing as Kara walked almost inhumanly fast with a look of determination on her face—until she made sure to lock eyes with Lena and smile if their paths did happen to cross. But she didn't stop to talk to Lena again, obviously too busy.

Lena hoped that after lunch it would slow down like Kara had said so that the blonde could idle at the crafty setup and talk to her about something stupid like the different flavors of M&M's or something, but if anything, Kara seemed busier after lunch. When Nia came in with plastic shopping bags three hours after lunch when Lena just happened to be at the setup again, she realized why. Supposedly there was a third to their team, but Lena never once saw anyone doing anything at the setup other than Nia or Kara.

It wasn't until they were on the last shot of the night—or the "Martini"— that she saw what must have been the second assistant. Lena went out to get her fourth coffee of the day and saw a petite brunette woman trying to dust off a tablecloth while Nia grabbed a cooler and started to drag it away and Kara loaded cases of water onto a green dolly.

"Siobhan, don't worry about that," Kara said as she placed another case of water onto the dolly and tilted in back to start following Nia. "We can shake it out when we take it off."

"But it looks bad," Siobhan said with a slight whine.

Lena pursed her lips as she turned her back to them and appeared to be minding her own business while she made her coffee, this time thankfully sans creamer since she'd already seen the person she'd really walked down here for.

"It's fine," Kara said, and even though Lena didn't know her, she sounded exhausted. "Just grab that box of food and bring it back to the trailer. We're on Martini. We have to start getting out of here or we'll be here all night."

Lena turned around in time to see Siobhan roll her eyes behind Kara's back, and it made her lip curl in distaste. That was rude and uncalled for.

"Okay, whatever you say," Siobhan said in a terse voice as she abandoned the table—which, admittedly, to Lena, looked fine—and grabbed the box set off to the side before skulking off with a huff.

Kara stared after the woman, shook her head to herself, then caught Lena's eye long enough to shrug and give her a tired smile before heading off after her assistant.

And that was the last Lena saw of Kara for the rest of the night.

* * *

Unfortunately meeting Lena Luthor had been the highlight of Kara's day. Not that it was unfortunate, just that everything else that day completely sucked. Meeting Lena and knowing she got to look forward to seeing her every day was the one thing that kept her going all day.

That and Nia, who always did what was expected of her without Kara having to ask, and if she did ask her to do something, Kara didn't have to question whether or not it would get done. Unlike Siobhan, who would do literally nothing unless Kara specifically asked her to do it, and even then, it was a toss-up as to if she'd do the task.

Like when Nia went to the store and Kara had to run to base to restock coolers. All she asked of Siobhan was to make sure the coffee and drinks stayed stocked on set. She was gone not even fifteen minutes. But when she got back the coffee was almost gone, more wasn't being brewed, and the coolers weren't empty, but they were getting there. And then there was the fact that Siobhan questioned and undermined just about every decision Kara made. And no matter what Kara said, she couldn't get Siobhan to see her way, so she eventually just gave up and let Siobhan have hers. It was easier than wasting her time and energy fighting with someone. She just wanted to do her job.

And then there was the fact that she'd forgotten to put a couple of crucial things on Nia's list, so someone had to go back to the store before wrap. She sent Siobhan because she couldn't lose Nia again—she'd been drowning without her. But when Siobhan got back Kara nearly shouted in frustration when she saw that Siobhan had once again taken the liberty to leave off two of the items, and by the time she got back it was too late to send her again. And she refused to go after wrap, even when Kara told her she'd still be getting paid. So that meant Kara would have to go on the way home again. At least she wouldn't have the trailer; she was allowed to leave it overnight with security to watch since the location was the same the next day. But she still had receipts to do when she got home, so any extra trip just added to the length of her day, and it had already been a long one.

It hadn't even been a twelve-hour day, but it was a rough one. The trailer was parked much farther from set than Kara would have liked, and lugging gear back and forth in the hot sun proved to be just as excruciating as expected. The last thing Kara wanted to do was go into a grocery store and shop. She wanted to go home and take a shower.

But there she was, nearly an hour after wrap, rushing through the grocery store near her house. She was nearly done when Nia called her, and she got a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

All Nia wanted to do was complain about Siobhan and urge Kara to fire her. Yes, she heard Nia's concerns and frustrations. She felt, them, too. But she felt stuck. What was she supposed to do? Fire her friend, even if she was starting to question why they were friends in the first place? All she could do was try to talk Nia down with promises that it would get better, that she would put Siobhan through the ringer tomorrow. But Nia wouldn't let up, and Kara had to interrupt a rant when she got to the register because she hated being on her phone while in the middle of a transaction. That's how she got off the phone and sighed as she slid her phone back into her pocket.

When she got home, she brought in all the perishables and immediately rewarded herself for her long, hard day with a hit from her pipe. The smoke hit her lungs, familiar and calming even before its effects had begun. She let it out, and imagined her anxiety exhaling from her body along with the cloud of smoke.

She brought it to her desk and finished it while she entered all the credit card receipts into the website on the computer and finalized all the paperwork. It usually didn't take her long, but this accounting team wanted the receipts to be done a different way, and it took her a while to figure out just what that was based on a mass email they'd sent out. What should have taken her five minutes took nearly an hour, and she was almost certain she'd still entered them in wrong by the time she emailed the completed form to accounting. Then she was anxious again, so she packed another bowl and took a few hits before hopping in the shower.

Showering after working in the hot sun all day was like a religious experience. She never realized how truly disgusting she felt until she got into the shower and started to wash away the visible layer of dirt on her skin. But afterwards she felt refreshed, even if every muscle in her body was sore and tired.

She got her things together for the next day, all sitting in a neat pile on the couch like usual, and finally made her way to bed. She set her alarm, groaning when it told her she had a little over four and a half hours to sleep. It was nowhere near enough. But hopefully tomorrow would be better and she wouldn't have to shop or do receipts after work. Hopefully things began to get easier, because throughout the whole day Kara never felt like she was able to catch her breath.

From constantly fighting with Siobhan, to burning the pass around she'd prepared for after lunch and having to half-heartedly pass out popcorn because she had nothing else. And then there was the constant back and forth to the trailer. Not having it directly on set was exhausting because every time she needed something, she had to jog up the block and back. And not to mention the trailer with all of her ice and water they'd rented was parked at basecamp, so every time they needed more, she had to take the truck to drive down and get it.

And tomorrow was going to be the same, and she knew no matter what she said Siobhan probably wasn't going to get better, and as she spiraled in those negative thoughts, tears pricked at her eyes. She took in deep breaths to calm down, willing herself not to cry. She couldn't be this stressed and distraught. Not on the first day. How was she going to make it through the rest of the show?

Then she thought of the moment she saw Lena, when she opened her trailer door and their eyes locked, and Kara could have sworn it made Lena stop in her tracks. She replayed each of their brief conversations in her head, over and over again, until her anxiety medicine kicked in and made her groggy, like it was supposed to do. But even as she drifted off, her clouded thoughts remained on Lena, and when she fell into slumber, somehow the green-eyed beauty made her way into her dreams.

* * *

**they've met, now here comes the pining.**

**until next time!**


	4. Breakdown

**Poor baby Kara is going through some shit and needs a hug.**

* * *

As expected, things with Siobhan didn't improve. Not even in the slightest.

The second day had been just as bad in terms of Siobhan doing nothing and fighting her every step of the way. By the third day Kara had learned it was best to just keep Siobhan in the trailer to "clean and organize" or whatever the hell it was she claimed to be doing. And she also let her handle the food. Kara and Nia stayed on set, but they were stretched pretty thin.

Nothing ever seemed to stay stocked for over fifteen minutes, and the two of them were constantly running around. That left no time for Kara to do receipts at work, so she was still doing them at homes afterwards. And she _had _to send Siobhan to the store because she and Nia were struggling on set as it was. So, of course, either things weren't bought, or Siobhan had bought the wrong thing, so Kara went back to the store after wrap the second day, too.

When she finally got to bed on that Tuesday night her alarm let her know she had only four hours to sleep, but by the time her medicine kicked in and knocked her out, she'd really only gotten about three. She was so tired when she pulled away from her house on day three that she yawned the whole way to set.

The location was different than it had been the first two days. There was a scene where Erin and Dean went to the library to look for books about dogs, and since school was out for the summer, they were using the library at National City High School.

Thankfully the parking lot to the school was wide and open and easy for her to park the trailer in. But it was still a pain dragging all the gear from outside and into the hallway where they were setting up. Like the first two days, Kara didn't feel like they were officially done with the setting up until around lunch. It was ridiculous. She'd barely managed to push Siobhan to get a pass-around of Greek salads out in time, and when lunch finally came, Kara skipped it all together just so she could get in the truck and drive around the corner and sit and be by herself for just five fucking minutes.

Thankfully she had a vaporizer pen with a THC cartridge to pull her back from the brink of a meltdown nearly constantly. Sad as it was, she didn't know how she'd be getting through the days without it. Sometimes she just felt so overwhelmed and frustrated it was like there was a weight on her chest, and she had to sneak away to hit her pen just to keep herself from either screaming at someone (most likely Siobhan) or bursting into tears. After a couple hits of the pen she felt calmer, and oddly enough, clearer. Everything seemed to suck a little less, and she performed better because when people asked for something, she was happy and quick to help, as opposed to stressed and answering with unintentionally rude remarks.

But no amount of weed in the world could have stopped what happened at the end of the third day.

It had started with Siobhan doing the usual of not helping and questioning all Kara's decisions. The pass-arounds were okay, but honestly still pretty lacking. But every time she suggested something, Siobhan shot it down, so she just let her make whatever she wanted because she didn't have the time or energy to care.

They'd been so slammed that no one had been able to go shopping, which wasn't that big of a deal since the next day was the Fourth of July and they were off. It wasn't like they _needed _something for the next day. But they would need things for the following day, so that meant Kara would have to go shopping on her day off—on top of catching up on more receipts and paperwork.

It was going to suck to have to work on her day, off but at least she could sleep in. It was that silver lining that was on her mind when the UPM J'onn J'onzz approached her near set. She wasn't sure what UPM stood for, or even what they actually did, but she knew he had a lot of pull over the money, and that he'd been the one to hire her and Clark in the first place. So, he was kind of a big deal. So far all of their interactions had been pleasant. She liked him well enough. He was a middle-aged African American man with short-cropped hair and a deep, gravely voice that she'd never heard him raise at anyone. And his eyes were kind and his face almost always held a smile.

"So, we're thinking second meal," J'onn said immediately when he approached her.

Kara tried not to let her face fall. Second meal was something that crafty ordered and served because catering was gone for the day. It all came down to time—once crew worked for six hours, they were owed a meal. So that meant when they hit twelve hours on their workday, Kara and her team had to have a whole meal ready to go. Normally it wouldn't stress her out so much. But normally she had Clark there to order while she just picked up everything, and she'd never had to deal with it while being so completely slammed. The first two days they were lucky and hadn't needed it. It appeared Kara's luck had run out, though.

"Sure, anything specific?" she asked, trying to keep the anxiety from her voice.

"Whatever," J'onn said with a shrug. "I know we're kind of springing it on you last minute, so whatever would be quickest."

Kara nodded briefly before pulling out her phone and checking the time. By her calculations second meal was officially owed in a little over an hour. That didn't give her much time to find a place, or one that was able to do the quantity of food she would need in such a short time. There was really only one option that she knew of that was almost a sure thing.

"How's pizza sound?" she asked.

J'onn's face lit up. "Perfect, sounds great." He patted her on the shoulder, almost fatherly, and said, "Thanks, Kara. Appreciate your hard work."

She smiled a little, warming at the compliment. She'd been having such a hard time that it was nice to hear from one of her bosses that he saw the effort she was putting in. "Thank you, J'onn."

She looked up the closest pizza place, which was just a generic chain, but at least she knew they would be quick about it. Even though she always made sure to tip well, she felt bad asking the pizza shop workers to make thirty pizzas in an hour. But she had no other option. So that was what she did, paying with the credit card by phone so it was all taken care of. And then she went off to find Siobhan and Nia to tell them. She knew she could walkie for them, but she felt weird calling out for them on channel one.

Nia was sometimes hard to track down because she, like Kara, never stopped moving. But thankfully she was at the setup making coffee, and when Kara told her about the pizzas, she instantly offered to go get them. But she needed Nia to stay and let Siobhan, the deadweight, be useful for at least a portion of the day. When found Kara found Siobhan at the trailer though, she scrunched up her nose and pursed her lips.

Kara had just about had it, so when Siobhan made that face, she just sighed and asked, "What?"

"It's just that pizza is so overdone," Siobhan said in a judgmental tone. "Why don't we do something else?"

"Because there's no time and no money," Kara said bluntly. "Pizza is cheap and quick. And it's already paid for. So, whether you like it or not, that's what we're getting." She reached into her fanny pack and pulled out her wallet, retrieving the credit card. "I need you to stop at the dollar store up the road and get more paper plates before you go to pick them up."

Siobhan did a small eye roll but took the card from Kara. "Fine. Do you need me to go now?"

Kara looked around the trailer, which was nowhere near clean or organized. There was still food out from the pass-around Siobhan had prepared earlier, there were dishes in the sink, and something had spilled on the floor that Siobhan hadn't bothered to clean up.

"Uh, no, I need you to clean up in here for about twenty minutes, then go," Kara said.

The smaller woman sighed deeply. "It's a lot, can you help me?"

In truth Kara probably _could_ have helped her, but she'd been getting under her skin so much that she really didn't want to. "Just do as much as you can, and we'll finish later," the blonde insisted. Not to mention that was what she thought Siobhan had been doing all that time. "I've gotta go help Nia get ready for second meal on set." Another eyeroll from Siobhan. "What?" Kara demanded.

"I mean I don't see why you can go help her but not help me."

"Because I need to be on set," Kara said again, wishing she were already there so she wouldn't be having this frustrating conversation any longer. "Just… Clean a little then go, okay?"

She didn't wait for a response. She couldn't. Instead she ran out of the trailer and back to set so she and Nia could clear off one of the tables to make room for the pizza. It didn't take them very long, but before they got the chance to bring the boxes of extra food to the trailer, someone mentioned they were out of coffee, so Nia had to set some to brew, and then someone opened a cooler and Kara noticed it was almost empty, so she had to stop and stock that.

When they did get back to the trailer Siobhan was thankfully gone, but the trailer looked almost the same. All she'd done were dishes, and she hadn't even finished. Kara huffed as she looked around at the disarray, her throat tightening as she realized she'd had to clean all of this now.

But Nia was there, and she shook her head as she looked at the mess Siobhan left behind before turning to Kara, hands on her hips. "I'll clean this up if you want to go back to set."

Kara felt her tension ease ever so slightly. "You sure?"

"Positive." Nia nodded, already taking out her phone and connecting it to the Bluetooth radio they kept in the trailer. "I actually _like _cleaning."

"That's amazing, because I fucking hate it," Kara said, almost laughing. "It's seriously, like, torture."

"That's why we're a good team, boss," Nia said with a smirk, music starting at full volume. It was classic rock, which Kara loved, and it made her like Nia even more.

"Yup, just you and I," Kara said as she made her way out the trailer, thinking wistfully how nice it would be just her and Nia. Sure, they'd still be getting their asses kicked, but at least they got along.

On her way back to set her phone started vibrating, and she couldn't stop the frown that made its way to her face when she saw Siobhan's name flash across the screen. There was no reason for her to be calling. She'd given her simple tasks; how could she possibly be having a problem?

"Hello?" Kara answered.

"Hey, so I don't think people are going to like just pizza for second meal, so I'm going to go to a grocery store instead to get some stuff to make something," Siobhan said, decision sounding made. Except it wasn't her call to make.

"Siobhan, no. We don't need to do that," Kara said quickly. What the fuck was wrong with her? "We do pizza as a second meal all the time. It's a classic. People love it."

"I just don't think they will," she said in a condescending tone. "I don't want people to be unhappy with it."

Kara let out a loud sigh. She saw J'onn walking towards her and turned her back quickly so he wouldn't see how angry she was. "They won't be. It's fine. Just get the plates and pizza and get back here, please."

"No, listen, I'm just going to get those things and then make this salad really quickly," Siobhan insisted. "It'll take me five minutes."

But Kara had seen Siobhan work and prep food. It would take way longer than that. Besides being completely unnecessary. "Siobhan, I'm telling you, no, do not do that. We're doing pizza, and that's it."

"No one's going to like it, though!" Siobhan shot back, her voice high. "This is my name and my career attached to this show, and I want to give them something better than fucking pizza."

_Oh fuck no_.

Kara had to move the phone away from her ear for a moment and stare down at the screen blankly as millions of thoughts went through her mind. First of all, the audacity Siobhan had to be concerned about her name. She was an assistant, no one cared what she did. _Kara_ was the key. It was her name and reputation that was on the line. Which brought her to the second issue. She was the boss. Why couldn't Siobhan just listen to her?

"Can you just _please_ get what I told you to and nothing more?" she asked weakly when she replaced the phone to her ear.

"I'm getting the stuff for the salad," Siobhan said defiantly.

And that was it. That was when Kara lost it.

"_No_ you're not!" Kara said loudly. "You're getting plates, and pizza! That's it!" Her voice rose to a shout, and normally she'd be worried about her voice carrying to set, but all reason or care had left her. "I don't know why you have to fight me on everything, but I can't fucking do it anymore! Just do what I asked you to do! It's not that fucking difficult!"

"Well, it's your show," Siobhan stated, and to that Kara threw a hand up in the air.

"Yes, yes it is, thank you," she said sarcastically. _Um, yeah, Siobhan. That was the whole fucking point._

Siobhan hung up on her then, and Kara slid the phone back into her fanny pack with shaking hands. She _hated_ yelling, and confrontation never sat well with her. She knew the moment the words left her mouth that they were wrong, that she shouldn't have said them, at least not in that way.

And when she turned around to start going to set again J'onn was standing behind her with a concerned yet reproachful look on his face. Kara's shoulders fell. Of course he heard everything.

"J'onn, I'm so sorry," she said quickly. "I know that was inappropriate."

"It was," J'onn agreed with a small head nod. "Kara, you can't talk to your employees that way."

"J'onn, I've never _had to_," Kara said, her voice going high again. "I don't like to talk to _anyone_ that way, ever." Her face felt hot, and she had to ball her hands into fists to stop the shaking. "I've never had someone who fights me at every turn and hinder literally everything I try to do." She knew she shouldn't have been telling him this, but there was something about J'onn that made her feel like she could, that he wouldn't hold any of this against her. But also, she wanted him to _know_. She wanted him to understand why it had happened. "We've just been slammed every day, and I am trying _so _hard to do a good job, but I feel like I'm failing every day, and it sucks." She sniffled and ducked her head so that if she started crying J'onn wouldn't see. "And I keep having to do stuff at home off the clock because I have no time to do it here, so I'm not getting enough sleep. I'm not even eating." She looked up again, gave a defeated shrug of her shoulders. "I'm already doing everything I can possibly be doing, and it's still not enough. The only thing I can think of to get everything I need done is to just stop sleeping all together."

"No, don't do that," J'onn said quickly. "You need to take care of yourself. You need to sleep and eat." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Kara, no one is doubting your work ethic or your commitment to this job. I see how hard you work. I just think you need to get better at delegating. You're taking on too much." He raised his eyebrows. "You need people to be on set so you can be doing paperwork."

"But if I'm not on set, it shows," Kara insisted. "That's where I need to be."

"No," J'onn said, shaking his head. "You need helpers who are actually going to help you."

"Nia—"

"Nia is amazing," J'onn said, stopping Kara's argument before it began because that was what she was going to say anyway. "As far as Siobhan… I think maybe you need to make a staff change."

Kara's jaw tightened, but she knew what he said was true. "I hear you."

"Best of luck with that," J'onn said, his eyes never leaving hers. "And in the meantime, no more blowups. Don't have conversations like that in the open, at least. It's not appropriate for the workplace, and if a producer sees you could be in real trouble."

"Copy," Kara said, her heart sinking to her stomach.

J'onn offered a smile. "Chin up. It'll get better." He patted her on the shoulder as he walked off, to his car parked across the street from the trailer.

Kara watched him drive away, feeling numb with guilt and regret. He was right. She was unprofessional. She'd let her anxiety and stress get the better of her and handled herself in a way that was completely improper. She'd known better but had done it anyway. And J'onn had seen, and though he wasn't mad, it made her look terrible. And who was to say he wasn't just putting on a nice face, that he wasn't going back to his trailer so he could make a call and have her fired right then and there because she obviously couldn't _handle _being the key?

Tears sprang to her eyes, and she tried to blink them away, but they kept coming. She had to get away, so she quickly set off with her head down in case she came across anyone. Thankfully she didn't see a soul as she sneaked into one of the back entrances to the school.

They weren't _technically _allowed to roam the halls of the school, but she didn't see anyone to stop her as she ducked into a stairwell and climbed up to the second floor. When she got to the landing, she found it eerie that all of the lights in the hall were off, but it made sense. The library was on the other side of the school, and with no classes there was no need for lights. But it still made a shiver run up her spine.

It was risky coming back into the school at all to cry, but she didn't want to breakdown in the trailer where Nia was and anyone could come in, and it was too fucking hot outside to sit somewhere crying—also out in the open, where anyone could see. As she crept through the deserted halls, though, she knew she made the right choice.

The only light came from behind the blinds lining the windows inside the classrooms, and thankfully all the doors had been left open for the summer. She ducked into one of the first classrooms she saw and went to sit at one of the desks. Then she took her hat off and threw it on the ground before folding her arms across the desktop and burying her face in them, and then fully let the tears come.

A sob broke through almost immediately, followed by a sharp intake of breath, and then she was bawling.

* * *

Lena almost quit on day two.

The first day had been fine. Her scenes weren't ridiculous, and Jack and been pleasant to work with. Plus, she'd been allowed to pet the cast dog, Shelby, in between scenes when she was at her chair. That was always a plus. She loved dogs, even if she had no time for one personally with her crazy schedule. But the Golden Retriever was sweet both on and off camera, and she indulged in petting him when they weren't filming.

But it was the last day at the vet's office, so they were filming one of the final scenes—the one where Dean went into her workplace and won her back by declaring his love for both her and the dog. And her character had to look this man in the face, eat up his bullshit, and walk around the counter and kiss him for everyone to see.

It was probably the most difficult scene she'd done in her entire life, and that included the small role as an assassin she'd had once that required her to learn a complicated fight sequence. But then she'd been fighting a man, and she could play on her hatred of his gender to fuel the drive for that character. Pretending to be in love with a man, to play a character who was attracted to the total piece of shit that was her love interest, it was almost impossible.

And apparently it was easy for Maxwell Lord to notice, because the first couple of times they ran the scene he stopped them in the middle to give Lena notes. Even after they'd gotten through the whole scene, kiss and all, Maxwell was severely unsatisfied. His beady eyes constantly narrowed at Lena, lips puckering before he shook his head of brown hair and made them do it over again.

Normally Lena would be agitated by this behavior if she felt like she was doing a good job or truly into the scene. But she wasn't, and it was showing. Every word she said sounded false, even to her own ears, and when she kissed Jack there wasn't an ounce of passion behind it. Not that it was Jack's fault. He'd been nothing but kind to her, and she'd been surprised to find herself enjoying his company. But she had to pretend he wasn't Jack, that he was Dean—and she _despised_ the character, so that made it even more difficult. Even trying to forget the pretending for one moment and telling herself that it was actually Jack that she was kissing did nothing to help because she still wasn't attracted to him.

It wasn't until she glanced out of the glass doors to the clinic and saw Kara running by that she was able to find something that worked.

She simply looked over Jack's shoulder ever so slightly and imagined herself saying the words to Kara. And when she went to kiss him, she closed her eyes tightly and pretended it was the blonde instead. It didn't work brilliantly—Jack's lips were still too rough, and his beard scratched her face unpleasantly, but she just kept picturing that smile and those blue eyes, and then she heard Maxwell yell, "Cut, moving on!" And she was back, wiping her hand on the back of her mouth before excusing herself to the bathroom for a moment to regain composure.

But then they had to do the scene several more times at different angles, and by the end of it, Lena felt like absolute shit. The more Maxwell corrected her the worse she felt, and what made it all more agonizing was that he was right. She wasn't believable, and she wasn't delivering her best performance. And as much as she wanted to blame it on the script and the characters, she knew it was partly on her.

Any decent actor could take on any part and become it, regardless of who they were in real life. So, her being a lesbian shouldn't have hindered her playing a straight woman. And normally it didn't. Then again, she felt her best performances were when her character had no love interest at all, because if she ever did have one it was always a man. She was much more interested in characters who had thoughts, feelings, and goals outside of men. And even though this character—Erin—had those, they were barely touched on and she practically threw all of them out the window for Dean.

To top it off, the only thing Lena was even remotely excited about coming to work for had been Kara. She didn't know why, but just thinking about the enigmatic woman was enough to get her out of bed in the morning and make her way down to Jess's waiting SUV. But she'd had little chance to get away to the crafty setup on day two, and the only time she saw Kara was when she was passing around smoothies in the morning. Lena had grabbed one, not even wanting it, because when Kara offered and grinned down at her, for some reason she just couldn't say no.

But that had been the only interaction they'd had, and it was disappointing to say the least. So, when she got back to her penthouse it took everything in her not to call Lillian and say that she didn't care what had to be done, but she needed to get out of the project. But then she took a long, hot bath and had a couple of glasses of Scotch, and she felt better.

When she woke up on day three, she still had her reservations, but at least the scenes for the day weren't nearly as romantic as the day before. Everything they were filming was at the beginning of Erin and Dean's relationship, so at least there would be no kissing. She hoped day two had been a fluke, that her struggles had come simply from her not having enough time to settle into the character and that going forward she had more chances to prove herself.

That was another reason she hadn't quit. She hated to fail and giving up wasn't in her nature. She just hoped that one day she could look back on this film and reflect fondly on at least _some_ part of it, that she could say this show helped her to grow as an actor.

And thankfully the first scene they did went off without a hitch. Maybe it was the library setting, but Lena felt much more at ease in this location. Also, her character was talking about books. Lena didn't read books about dogs, but she read all the time. It was literally her favorite thing to do besides sleeping and drinking. Something about the familiarity of the sensation of holding a book in her hands somehow grounded her and brought out a spark she'd been missing the day before.

The praise came from Maxwell Lord, and the moment she got it, Lena realized how much she'd been craving it. Suddenly a weight lifted off her shoulders, and she felt a thousand pounds lighter. The rest of the day went quickly, with Lena able to take ample breaks and trips to the crafty setup. Unfortunately, though, she didn't see much of Kara, and when she did see her, the blonde was on the move.

As quickly as the day went, though, there was quite a lot to film. They were only at the high school for one day, and the work was extensive. Not to mention the harsh lighting from the cheap, florescent bulbs overhead proved difficult to work with, so there was a good bit of time between setups. Lena just never noticed because she picked up a book from one of the shelves and read in between scenes. Jack's eyes nearly popped out of his head when she finished it not long after lunch, but she just laughed and said speed-reading was one of her many talents.

She'd lost track of the number of coffees and bottles of water she'd gone to get simply to catch a glimpse of Kara, but Lena also had to run away between takes to find a bathroom somewhat often because of that. The first couple of times she'd gone to the one closest to set, not wanting to run back to her trailer at basecamp just for that. But in between one setup very late in the day she did want to go back to her trailer.

They were about to go into the last scene of the day, and she'd been told it would be a half hour to setup. She felt comfortable leaving then, and though Jess offered to walk back with her, Lena insisted she'd be able to find her way on her own.

But apparently Lena had underestimated either how big the school was or how directionally challenged she was—or both—because she ended up just roaming the halls for a few minutes until finally she saw a different bathroom and ducked into it out of desperation.

She had to turn on the light and breathed out a sigh of relief when the bathroom appeared to not only have been recently cleaned, but unfound and untouched by crew. That was a huge plus. It wasn't that she had a problem sharing a bathroom, but she did have a shy bladder and had trouble going with an audience. Everything else she did was under a microscope. If this was one of the few things she could have privacy for, she wanted it.

It was only when she was done that she began to worry about finding her way back to set, but she hoped that if she just started wandering around she'd either end up back there or find a crew member who could point her in the right direction. But apparently, she was more hopeless than she thought because after a good five minutes of walking around she wound up at the same bathroom. She tried a different direction after that, but still didn't see any signs of set or the crew.

Being in a school was weird for her. She'd never gone to an actual school or had classmates. The closest she'd ever gotten was playing a character who went to school and the other kids being tutored on set. But as she walked around that day, she tried to imagine what her life would have been like without the fame and the fortune—if she'd just been a normal kid skirting through these halls on her way to and from class. Would she have been happier, or would she still be constantly searching for something, _anything_ to fill the lingering void that crept in at night when she was alone, and her brain was restless?

All of her fantasies of a better, simpler life were interrupted, however, when she heard the sound of someone crying from somewhere in the distance. She wasn't even sure what she was hearing at first, but then she stopped and listened closely, and there was unmistakably someone sobbing somewhere in the school.

Lena was unsure what to do. She knew if she was off somewhere crying, she'd probably want her privacy. But if someone was hurt, maybe they needed help. She didn't know what she'd be able to do, but she at least had her phone and could call Jess to get the medic to them.

But something was pulling her towards the sound, a weird tingling in her gut that told her to follow it. And when she did it led her upstairs, into a dark hallway. She crept up to a classroom doorway and peeked inside, her heart leaping to her throat when she did.

A familiar blonde was sitting at one of the desks, her head buried in her arms as sobs shook through her. Even with her face obscured, Lena would know that ponytail and those basketball shorts anywhere.

Lena froze for a moment, unsure of what to do. Kara hadn't noticed her, so there was still a chance for her to sneak away without the other woman being aware of her presence at all. But something about how hard Kara was crying and how truly _broken_ she sounded made Lena want to stay and try to find some way to comfort her.

She didn't know why. She'd never been an overly emotional person. The Luthor household hadn't showered her with love and affection growing up. She'd never made many friends when she was a child, and as an adult found the effort to keep up these relationships tiring. Hugging was even a challenge for her sometimes, unable to keep her body from going stiff at actual human contact if she wasn't overly familiar with the person. The only time she was able to overcome this was when she was having sex. Then she was fueled only by her need for release, and touching was encouraged and welcome because it gave her what she needed.

But sex was the furthest thing from Lena's mind as she watched Kara fall apart in that classroom. She had an unexplainable, inherent _need _to do something. So, she stepped into the room and cleared her throat, but the blonde appeared not to have heard.

"Kara," she said tentatively instead, and all of a sudden, the crying stopped with a loud inhale, followed by a sniffle.

Kara's head picked up slowly, revealing red, swollen eyes and a pink nose. Her cheeks were damp, and when she saw Lena standing there she sat straight up and hastily wiped her hands across them to dry them. "Lena, hi," she said, her voice nasally.

"Are you alright?" Lena asked in a soft voice, though she felt stupid the moment it left her mouth. Of course Kara wasn't _alright_. No one hiding and crying by themselves was alright.

But Kara didn't seem to notice her foolishness because she was too busy closing her eyes and shaking her head. "No," she choked out, opening her eyes again and looking to Lena with the saddest expression she'd ever seen as fresh tears began to fall.

Lena didn't know what came over her, but something in her brain must have short circuited because in an instant she was at Kara's side, taking one of those rough hands in her own. "What? What's wrong?"

Kara opened her mouth and tried to speak, but all that came out was garbled words as she tried to articulate herself while having little control over her faculties. She was taking in deep breaths, only for them to break out in another sob, and eventually Lena surprised herself by taking Kara by the arm and pulling her from the desk, and then she was hugging her fiercely because she had no idea what else to do. The blonde hesitated at first before strong arms snaked around Lena's waist, holding onto her for what felt like dear life.

Lena didn't know how long they stayed like that, Lena simply rubbing Kara's back and urging her to cry if she needed to. She didn't even care if her tears got on her wardrobe.

"Shh, Kara, it's okay," she whispered continuously. "Just cry."

When Kara eventually calmed down and seemed to remember herself, she broke away from Lena, wiping at hear eyes again as she sat on the desktop. "Thanks," she muttered, eyes cast on the ground.

"You're welcome," Lena said and bent down to pick up Kara's cap from the ground. She held it out, and Kara took it with a sniffle. "So, you ready to tell me what's going on?"

"It's…" Kara stopped, swallowed thickly. "It's a long story, and I probably shouldn't be telling you any of it." She looked up then, eyes bright blue amongst the redness. "What's going on with crafty isn't the cast's problem."

"No, but I asked," Lena said as she sat atop the desk across from Kara. "If you don't want to tell me, I get it. You and I don't know each other." She shrugged. "You just seem upset, and I don't know… I guess I just want to help you."

The blonde blinked a few times, obviously curious. "_Why_?"

Lena was taken aback. She didn't quite know why herself, but she attempted to put it into words. "I—I honestly don't know. I just heard someone crying and wanted to see if there was anything wrong, and then I saw you, and you just looked so distraught. It made me—" she sighed, glanced away for a second, "It made me really sad."

"I'll be fine," Kara said with a sigh. "I'm just…It's dumb. _I'm _being dumb."

"If something has you this upset, I doubt it's dumb," Lena said and crossed her legs to get more comfortable. "Look, you don't have to tell me everything, or even anything. If you want to talk about it, though—vent—I'm willing to listen. And if not, just tell me, and I'll leave right now and let you be alone."

Kara stared at her for a few moments, wheels spinning in her head. "You really want to know?"

A nod from Lena. "Lay it on me."

And so Kara told her. The words came tumbling out, Kara barely pausing to catch her breath as she ranted about every issue she was having, how she wasn't eating or sleeping, how hard it was to work with Siobhan, how every day she came to set and felt like she failed. By the end she was almost crying again.

"Honestly, I don't—" Kara paused, sniffled, and sighed, "I don't think I can do this."

Lena's heart squeezed unpleasantly, and she leaned forward and placed a hand on Kara's knee. "_Yes_, you can," she insisted, green eyes trained on Kara's. "Your boss put you in charge for a reason. He believes in you."

"Yeah, but I don't believe in me," Kara said, looking down at her knees, at Lena's hand. Her cheeks started to go pink again. "Honestly, I was way better as an assistant. This is too much."

"It's too much because you're putting too much on yourself," Lena told her, feeling self-conscious and taking her hand back. "J'onn's right. You need to delegate, and you need to find someone who is going to work with you, not against you." She shook her head. "I don't know much about crafty, but it sounds like the majority of your problems come back to one source."

Kara's jaw tightened. "Siobhan."

"Bingo," Lena said.

"I've never fired anyone, though," Kara said, twisting her cap nervously in her hands. "And I don't know who to find to replace her. All of Nia's people are busy now because they took other jobs." She sighed heavily as she shook out the hat and put it back on her head. "A few will be available soon, but that doesn't take care of my problem right now."

"We have tomorrow off," Lena mused. "Maybe use the day to try to reach out to people and see if they know anyone?"

"On top of shopping and doing paperwork," Kara listed and then groaned. "And back to work on Friday." The corners of her mouth twitched for a second, a smile almost coming. "But at least it's the weekend after that."

"There you go," Lena said, trying to sound cheerful in hopes it would rub off on Kara. "There's always that to look forward to." She looked to Kara meaningfully. "In the meantime, just try to get through today, okay?"

"Yeah," Kara said with yet another sigh. "Just take it one day at a time, right?"

"Exactly," Lena said with a smile, and her heart skipped a beat when Kara actually smiled back. It wasn't huge, but it was something. It was a start.

But then it was gone, and Kara's eyes widened slightly as her hand went to her earpiece as she listened for a second before her hand went to her mic. "Yeah, I have eyes on Lena," she said into the headset, and Lena jumped up as she realized they were looking for her on set. "Copy that," Kara said, then to Lena, "They need you."

"Immediately?" Lena asked, her pulse racing. "Because to be completely fucking honest, when I found you, I was lost and have _no _idea how to get back to set." Kara laughed at this, the sound filling Lena with a warm feeling.

"I know the way," the blonde said, hopping off the desk. "Follow me."

They began to make their way back through the school, both of them silent for a while. The closer they got to set, the more familiar things started to look familiar, but them arriving meant her time with Kara drawing to a close. She knew they needed her on set, but she almost wished Kara sucked at directions just as much as she did so they could have gotten lost a spent a little more time together. But the library doors came into view all too soon, and Kara stopped much too short of them and turned to Lena.

"This is where I leave you," Kara said, gesturing to the doors.

Lena stared at them. She should have gone in right away. But she couldn't resist the urge to linger with Kara just a bit longer. "Thanks for showing me the way."

Kara shook her head. "No, thank you for listening and being there." She glanced down shyly. "I really needed that."

"You're welcome," Lena said softly, her gaze on those blue eyes.

Kara smiled a small, sweet smile before nodding her head towards the library. "Should probably get in there."

Lena nodded shortly. "Probably."

"See you around, though?" Kara asked, as if there was any doubt that she would.

But Lena just smiled back. "See you around."

And then she turned away and walked the rest of the way to set, forcing herself not to look back over her shoulder to see if Kara was still standing there, watching her leave—liked she wanted her to be.

* * *

**Thank you, Lena, for giving Kara a hug.**

**Until next time.**


	5. Favorite

**Canon Supercorp is hurting me so here's them falling in love.**

* * *

When Siobhan returned with the pizzas she immediately apologized to Kara. The blonde accepted it and allowed herself to be hugged by the petite brunette, but it did nothing to change what she knew needed to happen moving forward. But she had no energy to do it that night. She didn't even have the energy to gloat about being right when the crew devoured the pizza in the blink of an eye. She'd been exhausted beforehand and crying took nearly everything she had left out of her. So, she resigned with dealing with the staff changes the following day.

She wasn't doing shit before noon. That was what she told herself. That was her, plan, at least. But Clark wasn't in on it, and he woke her up on the Fourth of July with a phone call just before nine a.m. A part of her wanted to ignore it and just go back to sleep, but against her better judgment she answered.

"What happened with Siobhan yesterday?" was the first thing out of Clark's mouth.

Kara groaned as she sat up in bed and cleared her throat before answering, "Something that's been building since before we even officially started."

Clark hesitated for a moment. "Which was?"

And so Kara told him everything, her anger and agitation suddenly coming back to her and pushing the exhaustion away. She began to pace up and down her house with nervous energy as she told him everything that had been going on. It was the first real chance she'd had to speak to him since the show started, only going back and forth with a few texts every now and then to check in. But she held nothing back, told him all her frustrations and struggles. He was quiet throughout for the most part, only making a few humming sounds to show he heard or stopping her simply to gasp and say, "No way!" in response to one of the horrible things Siobhan had done or said.

"Siobhan has to go," Clark said when Kara had finished speaking, and the ball of nerves in her stomach returned. "She's not working, and she has a bad attitude. You don't need that. Find someone else."

"Okay, but who?" Kara asked with a sigh.

"I don't know," Clark said, causing Kara's heart to sink. "Maybe ask on Facebook?"

Kara scowled and was glad they weren't on facetime. "Yeah, maybe."

"I'll put it on my Facebook and see if anyone says anything," Clark offered. "I'll send them your way."

"Thanks," Kara said, but wasn't keen on the idea. Facebook was always hit or miss. Sure, people would respond, but what kind of people? Were they people who actually did crafty, or more people like Siobhan who would come in and have no idea what they were doing? "I'll text James and see if he knows anyone. He does other shows and meets people with other crafty companies."

"Oh, yeah, good idea," Clark said, and then Kara heard a baby crying in the background. "Hey, I gotta go, okay? Little dude probably needs a change."

"Okay," Kara said, her anxiety hitting her as she realized ending the call with Clark meant she would have to start dealing with this problem.

As soon as they hung up Kara texted James. He didn't respond immediately, but that was understandable since it was still so early. Kara wished she could have gone back to bed, but her anxiety was too bad. So instead she packed a bowl and made some coffee to prepare herself for calling Siobhan. She finished them both and prepared a second coffee before she got up the nerve to actually do it. She sat at her desk and nursed the second cup as she tried to get up the nerve to make the call, until finally she knew she needed to just get it over with.

"Hi, honey," Siobhan answered chipperly, and it only made Kara feel worse. "What's up?"

"Okay, so, you're going to hate me," Kara started hesitantly.

"Why's that?"

"Yesterday when we had the blowup on the phone the UPM saw."

Siobhan was quiet for a moment, then she said, "Okay."

"He and I talked about it, and at the end of that talk, he told me I need to make a staff change." Kara swallowed thickly. "And he told Clark about it, and Clark just called me and said the same thing."

"So, what, that means me?" Siobhan asked.

"Yes."

"What the fuck?" Siobhan's voice was high and angry, and Kara winced at the harshness. "I'm not the one who had the freak out. That was you. Why am I getting punished for it?"

There were so many things Kara wanted to say. Starting with the fact that the blowup would have never happened had Siobhan not been fighting with her. Or the fact that half of the reason she was stressed was because she was strung out from picking up Siobhan's slack. But she swallowed all those thoughts along with the lump in her throat.

"It just wasn't working, okay?" she tried instead, her voice strained and tired though she'd not even been awake for an hour. "I don't know if you've noticed, but we haven't been doing spectacularly. We've—_I've —_been struggling every day, and I'm just… I'm so tired."

"But why is that my fault?" Siobhan asked with a whine. "Why isn't the blame for that being put on Nia?"

_Because Nia's actually helpful and listens to me_, Kara thought. But there was something in her that just couldn't bring herself to say it.

"It all comes down to the fight we had one the phone," Kara said instead, because it was easier. "This is coming from J'onn and Clark, both of my bosses. It's over my head at this point."

A loud sigh from Siobhan. "Well, I think it's really fucked up that I'm being fired over something that's your fault."

_It's definitely your fault!_ The thought screamed in her brain.

"I'm sorry," was what her mouth said.

"I'm calling Clark," Siobhan said. "I'll call you back."

The line went dead, and Kara dropped her phone to her lap and stared at the blank screen, feeling numb. But that lasted all of thirty seconds because then she was getting another call from Siobhan, and her heart sank as she answered it.

"He didn't answer," Siobhan said crossly. "You know, this is really bullshit."

"I'm sorry," Kara said again.

"You can't just call somebody and tell them they don't have a job anymore," Siobhan ranted, and Kara wasn't sure of the validity of that claim but said nothing. "And then not answer when they call and try to ask why."

And because of Kara couldn't think of anything else to say, she just repeated, "I'm sorry."

"Who the hell is this guy even?" Siobhan went on. "I've been in this industry for a long time, and this is only the second show I've seen you guys on. He must be new to this, and if this is how he conducts his business, then he's not going to get very far."

"I don't know what you want me to say," Kara said with a deep sigh. "All I can keep saying is I'm sorry. I wish it hadn't happened this way, but it's out of my hands."

"Well, this really sucks, Kara," Siobhan said. "You didn't even fight for me at all. I thought we were friends, but this isn't what a _friend_ does."

"I'm sorry you feel that way," was all Kara had the strength to say.

"I guess I'm gonna start calling around and see if there's any jobs for me since I'm not needed anymore," Siobhan said in a sarcastic voice.

"Best of luck with that," Kara said in a soft voice. "And for what it's worth, I truly am sorry."

Siobhan didn't respond to that, simply hung up without another word. Kara stared down at her phone, her heart in her throat and a knot in her chest. Despite how awful Siobhan had been, Kara hated hurting people. It never sat right with her, but before she had time to feel too upset over her unpleasant conversation with Siobhan, her phone lit up with a text from James.

It had the name and number of a girl who worked crafty on the last show he'd done. Kara took in a breath before calling the number, feeling weird about making a cold call. But she didn't want to risk sending a text that would be overlooked or missed.

Thankfully the girl picked up on the second ring with a tentative, "Hello?"

"Hi, is this Sam Arias?" Kara asked, her voice going oddly high and formal.

"Yes," was the unsure reply. "Who's this?"

"My name is Kara Danvers. I got your name from my friend James Olsen. I'm doing crafty on this show right now, and I'm going to need some help tomorrow." She paused, fiddled with the computer mouse on her desktop for want of something to do with her nervous energy. "Would you happen to be available?"

"I am, yeah," Sam said, sounding enthusiastic. "What's the show?"

"_Puppy Love_," Kara told her, along with the pay rate. "I have tomorrow for sure with the possibility of more days in the future." She didn't want to get ahead of herself and book Sam for the rest of the show without seeing her in action first. She'd made that mistake once and wasn't about to make it a second time.

"Sounds good," Sam said. "I'm in if you'll have me."

"Yeah, I could really use the help," Kara said with a small laugh. "Thank you so much."

"No, thank you!" Sam insisted, and that made the weight on Kara's shoulders lighten a little.

"Text me your email address, and I'll forward you the call sheet and map for tomorrow," Kara told her. "And if you have any questions or problems, just call me."

"Sure," Sam said. "See you tomorrow."

"Yeah," Kara said, her anxiety starting to ease away. "See you in the morning."

When they hung up Kara felt a smile twitch its way to the corners of her mouth for the first time that day. The firing was done, and the hiring of someone knew had gone a lot easier than she'd anticipated. Now that it was all taken care of, she was starting to feel a million times better.

Sure, Siobhan could be mad all she wanted. But her being fired needed to happen. And now that it had and she had Sam coming in, Kara was no longer dreading day four. It was way too soon to tell, but Kara had a good feeling about the workday to come. Just knowing Siobhan wasn't an issue anymore and the hope that Sam couldn't possibly be any _worse_ than her was enough to put Kara not only at ease, and it helped her to get excited about going back in with a new attitude.

With the weight of that off her, Kara allowed herself to go back to bed for a short nap. She put her second cup of coffee in the fridge for when she woke up again and crawled back between the welcoming covers of her bed, ignoring the paperwork and shopping she still had to do for just a little while longer.

* * *

Lena enjoyed her day off. She spent the day in bed with her script and a bottle of wine. Then when she was half done the bottle, she got bored and decided to flip through the channels on TV instead. But as usual there was nothing interesting on, and she went through her monthly questioning of why she paid for cable in the first place if she never used it—regardless of how much disposable income she had.

She sighed and turned off the TV with a huff before grabbing her phone and finally looking at her call sheet for Friday. The location was a shopping mall in a suburb right outside the city, and according to the callsheet and script it was the first day Eddie Thawne and Andrea Rojas were going to be on set. That worried Lena a little bit.

So far she'd only been with Jack, and he was delightful. He was kind to every crew member he talked to, regardless of the department, and on the second day when she'd been having a tough time, he offered her words of encouragement in between takes. How would Eddie and Andrea be? Would they be awesome as well, or would she hate them like she had some of her former costars who were total divas?

It made her nervous to think about, so she poured herself another glass of wine from the bottle on her nightstand as she scrolled down the callsheet to look at the departments. She didn't normally bother with this part of the callsheet since it had nothing to do with her. But she was a little drunk and _very _curious about a specific crew member.

After searching for a minute or so she finally found craft services, and Kara's name was there, along with her last name—_Danvers_. She didn't have a plan on what she would do once she got this information. But suddenly she had it, and somehow, she wanted to use it to find out more about the blonde.

So she did what dozens—if not hundreds—of people did every day with her name: she Googled it.

A few Twitter pages and Instagram profiles came up on the search, but one Instagram name stood out to her: _SuperKara_. It was dorky but it made her smile, and she knew that had to be the Kara she was looking for.

Thankfully she didn't have to download the app or have an account to look at the page, and Kara hadn't set her profile to private. So down the rabbit hole she went, scrolling through the pictures of Kara's life to get a sense of who she was. From the copious pictures of food Lena gathered that Kara was definitely in the right job with crafty because she seemed to be a total foodie. She also loved to wear plaid and band t-shirts, appeared to have glasses that she wore sometimes, and hung out a lot with a red-haired woman.

One picture of the two of them showed Kara and the short-haired woman both in bikinis at the beach, and Lena wasn't prepared for the jealousy mixed with arousal she felt at the image. But then she read the caption that read, "Danvers Sisters Beach Weekend," and upon clicking the tag was transported to the page of someone named Alex Danvers, who not only did seem to be Kara's sister, but dating a pretty African American woman. The jealously subsided, and Lena went back to Kara's page to keep scrolling.

Eventually she figured out how to zoom, and then she spent her time trying to find pictures where Kara's hands were showing so she could zoom in and look at them more closely. Why on Earth she was attracted to someone's _hands_, she had no idea, but the longer she looked at them the more she wished she could feel them dancing across her skin.

Then Lena got to a picture of Kara in a sports bra and jean shorts with a rainbow flag draped across her shoulders, and Lena's heart skipped a beat. Sure, she'd suspected Kara was gay by how tomboyish she dressed, but she didn't like to just assume things about people. Like how most people probably assumed she was straight. But that image, accompanied simply by the caption, "Pride," solidified what she'd been hoping for: Kara liked girls.

And while Kara was shirtless in the image, it wasn't overly sexual. She was wearing a bra, after all. But just above her shorts Lena saw the elastic band of a pair of boxes, and then her eyes traveled up and lingered on Kara's abs, and she felt a wetness starting between her legs.

That should have stopped her scrolling right there. This little crush was starting to get past innocent and moving onto full-on lust. And maybe had she been sober, she would have stopped. But she wasn't, and she kept on until she got to Kara's posts from the summer before, and another bikini image—this time alone.

And then the heat between her legs and the throbbing nerve was too much to ignore so she slid her hand into her underwear and frantically rubbed herself until she came, her other hand still clutching the phone open to Kara's Instagram page.

She felt better for a few minutes, but then she thought about what she did, and felt filthy with guilt and suddenly very sober after coming. Even showering did little to ease her troubled thoughts, so she just downed the rest of the bottle of wine and climbed back into bed, hoping she could sleep away her worries.

But when she woke up the next day, she realized she'd never closed out Kara's Instagram, and a fresh wave of embarrassment hit her as she hastily closed the page and erased it from her phone's history. She didn't say a single word to Jess when she got into her car or on the way to set that Friday. And for the first time she was dreading seeing Kara, because she didn't know how she could look her in the eyes and not go red in the face after Thursday night.

* * *

Kara had been able to get back to sleep on Thursday, but it wasn't restful. The entire time she napped she had stress dreams about shopping and doing paperwork and continuously looking at the clock to see it getting later and later and her window to get a good night's rest closing. She woke up in a sweat before her alarm, all calm she'd felt before her nap out the window. Her anxiety was back in full force, and she jumped out of bed to get started on those things so her nightmare wouldn't come true.

But sadly, it did, and she was only able to manage to get about five hours' worth of sleep on Thursday night. When she woke up groggy on Friday morning, she hoped it would be the last time because Sam was coming aboard, and theoretically that should have put an end to all her problems.

Even as she made her way to set early that July fifth, she didn't lose that hope. And thankfully parking in the mall parking lot was easy. She was just unlocking the door to the trailer when Nia pulled up and parked. She helped Kara get the stairs out before slapping her with a high-five in greeting.

"Where's Siobhan?" Nia asked, checking her watch for the time. They still had another fifteen minutes before call, but Siobhan had a habit of skirting in right before that time.

"She won't be back," Kara said with a sigh. "Today or probably ever."

Nia's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Oh shit." Then she smiled. "Thank fucking god, dude." She crossed her arms over her chest and gazed at Kara. "So what happened? Who's taking her place?"

"It's a long story," Kara said as she stepped into the trailer and grabbed a cooler to start dragging out. "But I did find someone else. This girl named Sam. Hopefully she'll be here soon." Nia grabbed the other end of the cooler and together they got it out before Kara straightened up and put her hands on her hips. "I texted her that I was parked near the food court entrance, and she copied."

"Have you ever worked with her before?" Nia asked, climbing the steps into the trailer again to grab another cooler.

"No, but she came recommended from a friend whom I trust wholeheartedly," Kara said as she stood back to let Nia down the first couple of steps then grabbed the other handle of the cooler to help her take it out. God, did they need a fucking ramp. The stairs just made everything twice as difficult. She bent down to undo the plug and start draining the cooler, but she sighed when she saw the plug was already off. "Crap," she said in a frustrated huff.

"What?" Nia asked.

"We forgot to close the drain on this cooler," Kara told her, gesturing to it. "So it was leaking all weekend."

"Shit."

"Yeah." Kara frowned as she went back into the trailer, and sure enough, the mats on the floor squished underneath her shoes. "These mats are wet. We're gonna have to take them out and let them dry once we're set up inside."

"Great," Nia said sarcastically as she grabbed another cooler and started to drag it out.

Kara helped her put it down outside the trailer just as a small, green VW bug pulled up and parked next to Nia's SUV. A young woman got out of the driver's seat and approached them hesitantly. She was about Kara's height with tan skin and shoulder-length brown hair, and she had matching brown eyes. She was also exceptionally skin, Kara noticed—which wasn't hard because she was wearing a black tank top and black leggings. So, in other words, she was gorgeous, and Kara really hoped this was Sam.

"I'm looking for Kara?" the young woman said, nervously fidgeting with her keys in her hands.

"That's me," Kara said, walking forward with her hand extended. "Are you Sam?"

"Yeah," Sam said with a small smile, shaking Kara's hand quickly before pulling hers away again. "Thanks for having me."

"No, thank_ you_ for being here," Kara said earnestly. "Seriously, you're saving my ass."

"I don't know about all that," Sam said with a small chuckle, her eyes roaming to Nia briefly. "Hello."

"Hi, I'm Nia," the taller brunette said pleasantly, simply waving in greeting.

"Nice to meet you." Sam nodded, then looked over Kara's shoulder to the waiting trailer. "So, what do you need me to do first?"

"Let's grab some trash bags and line the cans and bring them and a couple of coolers to set," she told Sam, then looked to Nia. "Can you stay here and start making coffee if I start the generator before I go?"

"Sure," Nia said with a nod. "I'll get the trash bags." She disappeared into the trailer for a moment then reappeared in the doorway with the generator. "But first—here."

Kara took it with a grunt, struggling to carry the heavy power source around the truck so she could plug in the trailer and get things running. Once that was done, she and Sam both grabbed a trash can and cooler and headed inside.

They were filming in a couple of the shops just off the food court, so she and Sam set what they had down and went back to the trailer for more stuff. They didn't speak other than for Kara to point out something for Sam to grab, and then they were on their way again. Sam never once talked back or questioned her authority the entire time they were setting up. And to top it off, she moved faster than Kara. Sam was coming into this fresh and new while Kara still hadn't recovered from the first three days. She was struggling to keep up with the young woman at first, but she managed to kick it into drive soon enough.

The main setup was done within a half hour, coffee out and all—with more being brewed already on set. Kara didn't have time to be amazed, though, because there were over seventy background actors coming in. They would need their own setup as well because all they did was sit and eat between takes. If they let them at the normal crew setup it would be demolished in seconds. That was why Kara had spent hours shopping the day before for cheap snacks for them.

They got a table with snacks up quickly, and Sam prepared a jug of water with cups while Kara set a huge percolator of coffee to brew. When they were done, they stood back and admired their handiwork. It had been so quick and easy.

Kara could barely believe it when she checked the time on her phone and saw that it was only forty-five minutes after call. They were completely done not even an hour into the day, something that hadn't happened until around or even after lunch when Siobhan had been with them. And that had been with just Sam and Kara setting up. On one of the trips back to the trailer Kara had told Nia just to stay and start working on cleaning the floor because she realized they were doing fine just the two of them.

Kara took a deep, relieved breath after she and Sam finished the extra's setup, smiling to her new assistant. "I can't believe we're already done," the blonde said when they got back to the regular setup and saw that it was still in perfect condition. "Water?" Kara asked as she went into one of the coolers to get a bottle for herself.

"Yes, please," Sam answered.

Kara grabbed two and handed one to Sam before closing the lid. "I think we deserve a break." She nodded her head off towards the other shops. "Come on."

Sam followed her, and they made their way through the mall. The production company hadn't rented out the whole mall, but that didn't matter. The mall itself hadn't been doing well since 2007. Only a few shops were still open, most of them dark and deserted. It was what her sister's girlfriend Kelly had told her was a "dead mall." It was a shock to everyone that it was still open at all, but Kara had a feeling that was because its deserted state made it a prime location to film. This was her third film she'd done at that location alone.

They settled onto a bench across from what used to be a HotTopic and sipped their waters quietly for a while. Kara was a little apprehensive being around someone new. She knew she was quirky and could be odd, and she didn't want to come across as weird in case it put Sam off to her. She didn't want to give her any reason not to want to come back to work for her.

"So, that was awesome. We've never set up that quickly before," Kara said, breaking the comfortable silence they'd fallen into. She looked to Sam uncertainly. "We're running 'til the end of August, and if you want and are available, I'd like to book you for the rest of the show."

A smile stretched across Sam's face at that. "Hells yeah I'm available, and I am 'bout it."

Kara returned it. "Good, then you're hired."

"Fuck yeah," Sam said, now beaming. She tapped her water bottle against Kara's in cheer before taking a sip. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and asked, "So, do you have any kids?"

"No, I don't let men touch me," Kara said, shaking her head.

Sam let out a laugh at that. "Good for you, sis."

"Yeah, lesbianism is the best birth control." Kara smirked, and then because she knew if someone asked about her having kids it usually meant they had kids themselves, she asked, "What about you? Any kids?"

"I have a baby girl," Sam said, beaming with pride. "Ruby."

"Awe," Kara cooed, because she loved kids even if she didn't have any of her own. "How old?"

"Six months."

Kara's eyes widened. "You do _not _look like you had a baby six months ago."

Sam laughed again. "Thanks."

Kara stared at her for a few moments, trying to calculate how this twig of a woman who looked barely out of high school had a child. "How old are you? If you don't mind me asking."

"I'm twenty-one," Sam answered. And Kara wasn't surprised, but she also wouldn't have been shocked if Sam had said she was younger.

"Damn, you're young," Kara said with a chuckle. "My old ass is twenty-seven."

"That's not old," Sam said, shaking her head.

"Feels like it." Kara ducked her head shyly.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Sam asked, causing Kara's head to snap back up.

"Uh… no… No girlfriend," Kara said in a small voice.

"Why not?" Sam frowned.

"Um." Kara paused. How could she sum up all of her women trouble simply enough so that this person she barely knew could understand but also not open up about all her past relationship trauma? "Women just… Don't like me, I guess."

"I find that very hard to believe."

"It's true," Kara said with a shake of the head, turning away and looking into one of the empty store windows instead of at Sam.

"That's bullshit, then. You're cute and nice," Sam told her. "Girls should be all over you."

"But they're not." Kara shrugged, and then in an attempt to switch the focus off of her pathetic excuse for a dating life, asked, "What about you? Are you still with your baby's father?"

"Uh, no," Sam said with a grimace and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "He's a piece of shit, and I'm happy to be single now."

"Oh," Kara said, eyes widening. "Well that's… good…"

"It is," Sam said. "He's a deadbeat with no job, and I'm a boss ass bitch who makes good money and raises her baby on her own. I'm doing fine."

"Yes, you are," Kara said, meaning it. She'd only just met Sam, and she didn't know her story, but it broke her heart to hear that not only did Sam not have a good guy to help her raise their child, but that Sam had been treated so poorly by the man who knocked her up. She felt her heart panging for the younger woman next to her, and she wished there was something she could do to take away all the hurting and pain that she'd endured. "You just focus on you, and the right guy will come along. You're young. You have plenty of time."

"Yeah, but I already have a kid," Sam said. "I want to have more kids someday. I'd like to do that before I'm too old."

"You're only twenty-one," Kara said, nearly laughing. "It's not like you're my age."

"Bitch, stop, you're not even that old," Sam said, rolling her eyes and smirking.

"Still, I'm older than you," Kara said with a smirk right back. "So stop talking about you running out of time to find somebody because if _you _can't find someone, then what hope is there for me?"

"Kara, you need to have confidence." Sam looked her squarely in the eye, unblinking. "Seriously. You're not giving yourself enough credit."

"Maybe," Kara muttered, ducking her head because her cheeks began to go pink. She cleared her throat and stood from the bench. "I'm gonna go check on the setup."

"Wait," Sam said, hopping up. "I'm coming with you."

* * *

Lena didn't know if she could face Kara, but something in her just couldn't stay away. She tried to tell herself that it was an attempt to cure her infatuation, that the more time she spent with Kara the more flaws she would begin to see, and it would make her less desirable. But the moment Lena found the crafty setup she almost turned around and went right back to her chair.

Kara was actually at the setup, and that day instead of a normal t-shirt Kara was wearing a blue muscle shirt, and Lena thought the name of the shirt was appropriate considering the view it blessed her with. Kara's muscles were well-defined and toned. She watched as Kara picked up a nearly-full five gallon jug of water by the handle with one hand as if it was nothing to fill the coffee urn. It made her stop dead in her tracks, and she just stared for a few moments as she realized her plan was backfiring because now Kara was even hotter.

She should have turned right the fuck around then and there and had Jess get her a coffee instead. That would have been the wise thing to do. But as smart as Lena thought herself to be, she foolishly couldn't help herself. Not to mention there was a slender brunette at the setup with Kara, and they were talking and laughing, and it made the familiar sensation of jealousy bubble to life in her stomach.

The moment she got to the tables, though, Kara looked up from what she was doing and beamed at her. "Lena, hey," she said brightly, walking right up to her. "I feel like I haven't seen you in days."

"Likewise," Lena said coolly as she grabbed a coffee cup from the basket. "You seem to be having a better day," she commented while pouring the steaming, black liquid into the cup.

"I am, yeah," the blonde said, nodding. "In fact," she paused, looked over Lena's shoulder. "Hey, Sam."

Lena turned to see the brunette in the process of restocking a basket of granola bars. She looked to them questioningly, and Kara motioned for her to come over. Sam put the last couple of bars in the basket and threw the box in the garbage can before walking over and smiling.

"This is Sam," Kara said, gesturing to the woman who didn't even look old enough to drink to Lena. "And Sam, this is Lena." Kara smiled back and forth between them before saying, "Sam is going to be with us the rest of the show."

Lena's eyes widened a bit. "You're doing crafty with Kara now?"

"Yeah," Sam said, and Lena had to remind herself not to frown at the fact that this chaotically beautiful woman would now be spending over twelve hours a day with Kara from here on out.

"That's great," Lena said, though, honing in on her acting skills. "I'm glad you were able to find someone who's helpful."

"Sam's great," Kara said, and Lena could tell she meant it. And it made her heart sting.

"I'm gonna go check on the background setup," Sam said, already backing away from the tables. "It was nice meeting you, Lena."

"You too," she said to Sam's retreating back before turning to Kara once more. "I see you made that staff change."

"Yes, and I am _so _glad I did," Kara said, crossing her toned arms over her chest. Up close Lena noticed uneven tan lines—from hours spent in the sun while wearing t-shirts, no doubt. A farmer's tan should have put her off slightly, but it was actually kind of adorable. Kara also had these little freckles on her shoulders that sent flutters through Lena's stomach. "I freaking love Sam. She's so amazing."

And then the flutters were gone, replaced by envy once again. "That's good to hear," she said with a forced smile.

"She and I were just talking about going get drinks after wrap," Kara said with a small laugh. "I could use one after the week I had."

"Sounds fun," Lena said, smiling unwavering, but her insides felt like they were turning to ice.

"Yeah, it should be," Kara said, ducking her head for a moment and taking in a breath. When she looked back up, her face was uncertain, and her cheeks were starting to go a little pink. "Would you… I don't know… Maybe want to come?"

Lena's brain fritzed out for a moment, unsure of the question. All she heard was Kara asking her if she wanted to come, and her mind went back to her bed and the drunken self-gratification from the night before. She could barely manage to squeak out a response of, "Excuse me?"

"I mean… You don't have to," Kara said quickly, her face getting redder by the minute. "It won't hurt my feelings if you say no. I just thought I'd extend the invitation. I don't know if there's any rules about cast hanging out with crew outside of work. You probably don't want to get drinks with crafty anyway. It's not a big deal—"

"Oh!" Lena said, cutting off Kara's rambling as she realized what she was being asked. "You want me to go out with you?" Her face went red then, much like Kara's. "You and Sam," she corrected.

Kara nodded. "Maybe Nia and a few other people, too," she said, then quirked her head to the side and gazed at Lena questioningly. "Feel free to pass. But the offer stands if you want to join."

Lena weighed her options. This little thing she had for Kara, whatever it was, wasn't going away. And it certainly wasn't getting better. Going out would her and her friends was most likely a terrible idea. But then she thought of Kara smiling and laughing with Sam, and the idea of them drinking together made her nervous. She didn't know their relationship, and though she and Kara didn't have one, she still felt threatened by the pretty, young woman.

"Where are you going?" Lena asked, trying to sound nonchalant, as if she was mulling over the idea and hadn't already made up her mind.

"Noonan's."

Lena nodded. She knew the place. "I'll think about it," she said, though she knew damn well she had every intention of going. She just didn't want to seem too eager. "Ask me again closer to wrap."

"Sure," Kara said with a bright smile.

Lena returned it, then nodded her head back towards set. "Well, I should probably get back to work."

Kara scrunched up her nose in an adorable way and laughed. "Yeah, me too, unfortunately." She sighed as she looked around at the setup for a moment, then back to Lena. "I'll be sure to stop by your chair with the pass around when we do it, though."

"Good, then I won't bother grabbing anything to eat now," Lena said with a smirk. "What's it going to be?"

Kara narrowed her eyes playfully. "That depends, do you have any dietary restrictions?"

"No, I eat anything," Lena said, heart skipping when Kara's eyebrows shot up for a second.

There was a playfulness in her eyes, and she glanced at Lena's mouth for a moment before looking back to her face again. "Then it's a surprise," she murmured, cheeks going pink again.

"Tease," Lena said with an eye roll. "You're lucky you're my favorite."

Kara's eyes widened, and her jaw hung open for a moment before she asked in a small voice, "I'm your favorite?"

"I—Uh," Lena stammered, unusually at a loss for words. "Yeah… You know, because you always give me food… And you're nice…" She paused to sip her coffee, to have a chance to recollect herself. "And you work hard, and I appreciate that."

"Oh," Kara said, nodding slowly.

"Yeah…" Lena winced a little, realizing she'd made it awkward. "I'm—I'm gonna get back."

"Good idea," Kara said with another nod, and Lena smiled at her briefly before scurrying away from the tables. When she was a couple of feet away, though, she heard a hesitant, "Hey, Lena?"

The brunette turned to see the blonde staring at her with a small smile. She licked her dry lips before asking, "Yes, Kara?"

"For what it's worth, you're my favorite, too," she said, her gaze unwavering. There was a mischievous glint in her eye as she added, "Just don't tell Nia."

Lena chuckled lightly. "I won't."

And with that she practically bounced back to set, right back to her chair. And she didn't plan on leaving it again except to do her scenes until after crafty's pass-around was done, because Kara had promised to bring her something. And if Kara was going to come looking for her, she wanted to make sure she could be easily found.

* * *

**Aight ima head out**


	6. Stuttering

**I have too much time on my hands. Anyway here ya go.**

* * *

Thankfully adding Eddie and Andrea to the on-set dynamic wasn't so bad—at least not when it came to Eddie. He was actually very nice, with loads of charisma and humor. Lena didn't expect to be cracking up at her chair in between takes, but she was. It was a pleasant surprise. She was glad he seemed to be like Jack and wasn't the typical male asshole like his character. He had every reason to be, though. He was young and good-looking, blonde with a strong jaw and hints of stubble. He was also a child actor like herself. In all honesty she was surprised he wasn't the star instead of Jack. But he didn't seem to mind being number three on the callsheet.

Andrea was a little colder. She was nice enough to Lena, but she noticed how she was to members of the crew. She sent back her breakfast order twice and barely even glanced up when a PA brought a coffee to her chair. Lena didn't care much for this behavior, but she hoped it wouldn't continue or worsen. Andrea had barely been in anything in terms of her career. There was absolutely no reason for her to be demanding when she didn't have the credits to back it up. She barely even had any lines in this movie. A lot of that day she was just there to say one or two lines, and the rest of the time she stood awkwardly next to Lena on screen.

The longer she was around Andrea, the more she disliked her. She reminded her of a character she'd played right after she turned eighteen—a rich boarding school type who grew up with a silver spoon in her mouth and thought her shit didn't stink. That's basically who Andrea was, Lena surmised after spending twelve hours with her. She was tall, almost a foot taller than Lena, and was skinnier than Sam. She had dark hair and bright eyes, and she carried herself with an air of importance. Lena couldn't fucking stand her.

By the end of the day she was looking forward to going out for drinks not only to spend time with Kara, but because she needed one just as much as the blonde did—and she'd officially depleted all she had at her penthouse. She even wanted to invite Jack and Eddie because Kara had mentioned more crew, and she worried about feeling weird if she was the only member of cast there. But there was no way she could invite them and not Andrea, so she kept her mouth shut.

Wrap being called was like music to her ears, and she couldn't wait to get back to her trailer and get out of wardrobe just to get away from Andrea. Thankfully the problematic brunette was ushered away with Eddie right away.

Lena decided to walk back to basecamp since it wasn't far. Also, she had to pass the crafty setup on the way, and that meant she could "coincidentally" bump into Kara. She just hoped the blonde wasn't in the trailer already.

Thankfully, though, as the emptying tables came into sight, a familiar blonde ponytail caught her eye. Lena's pace quickened, and she became hyper-aware of Jess at her side. She realized if she didn't have the rest of cast with her Jess was the next best thing. After all, she liked her, and they got along well. If Kara was still going out then she would invite Jess to come, too.

"Hey, Kara," Lena said when she and Jess got to the setup, and Kara stopped boxing up food for a moment to look up at Lena in surprise and smile.

"Oh, hey," she said chipperly. "Down for drinks?"

"Yes, actually," Lena said, returning the smile somewhat nervously.

And before Lena got a chance to offer, Kara turned to Jess and asked, "Do you wanna come too, Jess?"

"That depends, where are you going?" Jess asked. "Some of the AD staff are going out for drinks, too."

Kara grimaced slightly. "Not a big fan of them."

Jess laughed. "Me, either, but Oliver got me the job, so I feel obligated to go."

"Fair enough," Kara said with a nod. "Where are they going?"

"Legends."

Another grimace from Kara, and Lena had to stop herself from doing the same. Legends was a sports bar that was loud and crowded. It catered to rowdy, former-frat-boy types mostly. Noonan's—Kara's choice—was quiet and quaint, much more Lena's speed.

"Oh, good, that wasn't my choice at all," Kara said with a laugh. "But it figures that's what Oliver picked."

"So, you don't want to come with us, then?" Jess asked Kara, who quickly shook her head.

"No, I was thinking Noonan's," Kara said, then looked to Lena. "What about you? Wanna go to Noonan's, or would you prefer to go to Legends?"

Lena shifted under both of their gazes, looking to Kara almost shyly. "Where would you prefer?"

"I'd prefer not to hang out with the AD staff," Kara said with a small laugh. "But I'll go wherever you go."

Lena's stomach did a somersault at that, but she tried not to let it show as she said, "Honestly, I prefer Noonan's."

Jess nodded. "Well, I guess I can go there instead so I can bring you home afterwards."

"Nonsense, Jess!" Lena said instantly. "Your workday is done. You are not responsible for me." She shook her head. "Just bring me home. I'll drive myself."

"Lena, I insist—"

"Jess, don't be ridiculous," Lena said with a hint of finality.

Kara cleared her throat, offering apprehensively, "I could pick you up and drop you back off if you wanted, Lena."

The brunette blinked at her a few times. "Really?"

"Yeah." Kara nodded. "I was going to bring the trailer to my house first, shower, and then go in my car anyway." She shrugged. "I don't plan on having more than a couple of drinks."

That was just as well because Lena didn't know how to have only a couple. "Okay," she said, holding out her hand. "Give me your phone."

Kara hastily unzipped her fanny pack and pulled out her phone, unlocking it then handing it over. Lena added herself to Kara's contacts, then texted herself from Kara's phone before handing it back.

"I'll text you my address," Lena told her, trying to appear like it wasn't a big deal, like she did this with crew all the time.

"Cool," Kara said, smiling almost dumbfoundedly. "I'll let you know when I'm on my way." She paused to look around the setup just as Sam appeared and grabbed a cooler to drag off. "I should probably help them, though." She sighed and picked up a couple of jars of nuts from the table and stowed them in the box she'd been packing before Lena and Jess showed up, then lifted it and gave a final smile. "I'll see you soon?"

Lena nodded. "See you soon."

Then Kara was off again, walking so fast she was practically running, and Lena wondered how she still seemed to have so much energy. She was feeling a little tired herself before her plans with Kara were set in stone. Then she was buzzing with nerves and excitement as she and Jess made their way back to basecamp so she could get out of wardrobe and they could leave.

* * *

Kara was in a daze of amazement as they wrapped out of the mall location and headed out that Friday night. Every time she had to stop at a light, she took her phone out and looked at Lena's contact info, hardly believing it was there and somewhat paranoid it would magically disappear on her way home. Then Lena texted her the address, and Kara felt as if she was in some kind of weird fever dream instead of reality. But when she got home and hopped in the shower and the water hit her and awakened all her senses, she knew she wasn't dreaming. This was really happening. She was going to pick up Lena Fucking Luthor at her _home_ so they could go out to a bar together. Sure, there would be other people there, but Kara couldn't get past the fact that her celebrity crush would be there, too.

Which was another reason she'd wanted to shower. She sweated all day long in the July heat, and her wardrobe didn't do her any favors in terms of cuteness. Instead, after her shower, she changed into jean shorts and a black, distressed, _Jurassic Park_ tank top and towel-dried her hair before putting some eyedrops in to rewet her contacts—she _refused_ to wear her glasses if Lena was going to be there.

Then she was behind the wheel of her Jeep, shooting Lena a text that she was on the way and setting her music to shuffle before backing out of the driveway and setting off. Her GPS told her she'd be at Lena's in under ten minutes, and her whole body shook with nerves the entire way across the city. It was a surreal experience pulling up at a huge, fancy building and seeing Lena standing there waiting for her. She was about to hop out and get the door for her, but one of the valets beat her to it, and she tried to swallow her disappointment as Lena climbed into her car.

That disappointment vanished, though, when Lena gave her a small, apprehensive smile as they pulled away from her building and said, "Thanks for coming get me."

"No worries," Kara said, returning the smile briefly before turning her attention to the road again.

They were mostly silent on the drive to the bar, only making little idle conversation as a nervous energy buzzed between them. Kara tried to be conscientious of her driving, careful not to go too fast or hit any curbs when she turned. Her sister always busted her chops about her being a shitty driver, and she didn't want Lena to think that as well.

Thankfully they got to the bar without incident, and Kara parked her Jeep around the corner. Kara sprang out of her seat and ran around the car to open Lena's door, and the brunette's cheeks went pink at the fuss, but she thanked the blonde all the same before they headed inside. Kara once again held the door for her, and Lena had to admit it was a little charming.

"Alright, what are you having?" Kara asked, nodding her head towards the bar.

But Lena shook hers quickly. "You don't have to get my drink, Kara."

"I know." The blonde gave one of those heart-stopping smiles. "But I want to. I feel like I owe you for the mini therapy session you gave me the other day."

"You don't owe me anything," Lena said, her blush returning. She didn't feel right letting Kara pay for her. She didn't know how much Kara made, but she knew it couldn't have been anywhere near the amount she had in the bank. "I'd hate for you to spend money on me."

Kara laughed lightly. "One drink isn't going to hurt me financially, Lena." She quirked her head to the side and smirked playfully. "I'll buy the first drinks if you buy the second ones," she offered, then stuck out a hand. "Deal?"

Lena hesitated for a moment, staring down at the extended hand before taking it in her own and shaking it. "Deal."

Admittedly Lena let her hand linger a little longer than need be, but she also noticed that Kara didn't exactly pull away all that quickly either. But when they did, the tips of Lena's fingers tingled with the ghost of Kara's simplest touch. She tried to shove it down and crossed her arms over her chest in an attempt to appear less awkward than she felt as she and Kara went up to the bar.

"What are you having?" Kara asked, blue eyes instantly drilling into Lena's.

"Jameson and Diet Coke," Lena said. She normally drank her liquor neat or over ice, but those drinks tended to be more expensive, and if Kara was going to pay for her, she didn't want to be greedy. She would save that for the round she paid for.

"Jameson. Huh," Kara said with a small smile before turning her attention to the bar, where a tall man with neat, dark hair and a nametag that read, "Ray," was polishing glasses and waiting to take their order. "Can I get a Jameson-Diet Coke and a vodka-Sprite, any kind is fine. You know I'm not picky."

"Sure," Ray said pleasantly as he began to make the drinks, glancing up at Lena every now and then as he did. When they were done, he set them on the bar top and held out his hand. "Open or close, Kara?"

Kara placed the card in his hand as she said, "Close." And with a laugh added, "I'm driving."

"Well then go easy on the drinks," Ray said with a wink and ran the card quickly before handing it back along with the receipt and a pen. "I made them a little strong."

"You're a saint," Kara smirked at him and signed the receipt —Lena noticing that she left a generous tip—then picked up the drinks and handed the darker one to Lena. "Here you go." She gave a small wave to the bartender and said, "Thanks, Ray."

They settled into a booth in the corner, sliding in across from each other. Lena sat so that her back was facing the door, that way there was less chance someone would notice her. She was pretty sure the bartender recognized her, but at least he hadn't said anything. Sometimes she just wanted to go out and do something—literally anything—without someone stopping and asking her for a selfie.

"You're friends with the bartender," Lena said with a questioning quirk of an eyebrow as she took a sip of her mixed drink, pleased to find that this Ray guy hadn't been lying when he said he'd make them strong. Thank god for that.

"Yeah, I've known him for years," Kara said with a tiny grin before sipping her drink as well. "He and I met in college freshman year. He helped me pass intro biology." She glanced over at the bar, then back to Lena. "He's in med school now. He's bartending just to scrape by, but he's got so many loans it'll take him at least a decade to pay back." She shrugged. "I don't know. I guess that's why I like coming here. I feel bad for him, and he helped me out when I really needed it, so now that I'm doing well, I make sure if I'm going out drinking, I come here so I can at least tip him really well. I'd rather give money to my friends than some random stranger." She paused then, face going red, and took another swallow of her beverage before saying, "Sorry, I'm rambling."

"No, it's fine," Lena said, and it really was. "That's really kind of you." She smiled, glancing down at the tabletop.

"Yeah, well," Kara said, and when Lena looked back up, she saw that the blonde's face was turning a delicate shade of red. "So, Jameson?" Kara pointed to Lena's glass. "Have you ever been to the distillery in Ireland?"

"Uh, no," Lena said, shaking her head. "Have you?"

"I have, actually, yeah," Kara said with a small nod.

"When?" Lena sat up straight, suddenly interested. She'd been wanting to go to Ireland since she was a child, but Lillian and Lionel never took her, and as an adult she always found some excuse not to.

Kara took a big gulp of her vodka-Sprite before answering, "The summer I turned twenty-one." She replaced the glass on the table and ran a finger along the rim. "I did a study abroad program with my university."

That captured Lena's attention. She'd never had a college experience, but it was always something she'd dreamed about. "What did you study?"

"Script writing," Kara said with a small, apprehensive smile. "And acting."

"_Acting_?" Lena's eyes widened.

"Yeah," Kara said with a laugh. "I wanted to know what it was like to become a character so I could apply that to my writing."

"So that's what you want to do?" Lena asked, eyeing Kara interestedly. "Be a screenwriter?"

"Yeah," Kara said, averting her gaze shyly. "I have this dream of being a novelist who adapts her own screenplays—kind of like Stephen Chbosky."

_"Perks of Being a Wallflower_," Lena said instantly. She'd only read it at least five times and seen the movie nearly a dozen.

"Exactly," Kara said, smiling at Lena briefly before gulping down the rest of her drink.

"What do you like to write?" Lena asked as Kara wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and set the empty glass on the tabletop.

"Um, well…" Kara gulped, her face going red as she took in a short breath. "I write about young women… Who fall in love," she paused, then continued in a quieter voice, "With each other."

Lena felt her face burning, knowing it matched Kara's, and all she was able to manage to get out was a small, "Oh."

"I know it's dumb," Kara said quickly, seeming to need to defend herself. "Just, growing up there were so few books and movies with lesbian characters I could find, and the ones I did read were _terrible_." The blonde shook her head, frowning. "Even now they're still all the same shit: conversion camps or the poor kid getting kicked out of the house. They're awful, and they make me feel bad. Why can't I just get a good, happy-ending love story like all the straight couples get? It's so damaging for kids coming into their sexuality and trying to figure it out to pick up a book that shows a character who has all of a young, gay kid's fears coming true." She sighed, picked up her glass for a moment before remembering it was empty, then put it down again awkwardly. "I just want to give these kids hope that they can have a loving, healthy relationship like straight couples. It doesn't have to be all drama and tragedy, heartbreak and death. I'm tired of reading that shit, and I really wish they'd stop publishing it and making movies about it."

Lena nodded, swallowing a lump in her throat. She knew the books Kara was talking about, or at least the ones like them. She'd read a few herself, but not too many because Kara was right. They were sad, tragic, and usually involved the main character's isolation. Conversion camps were also a common theme. They were so heavy and dark that Lena could barely stomach them, so she stopped reading books about lesbians all together. Not to mention the writing itself was usually pathetic, along with the story itself being shit.

"I think that's amazing," Lena said honestly, adding carefully, "Young lesbians deserve to feel represented positively in literature and film and television."

"Yeah, and with all of the celebrities coming out now and more and more LGBTQ characters are being given screen time," Kara said energetically, "this is the perfect time for me to be writing these stories. There's a market for it. If these other shitty books and movies are getting made, I sure as hell can do it, too." She stopped then, bit her lip shyly and covered her face partially with one of her hands out of embarrassment. "Sorry, I'm rambling again."

"Don't apologize, it's fine." Lena let out a small laugh. She actually liked listening to Kara speak. She was so passionate about what she wanted to do, and Lena wished she still felt that way about acting—or anything in her life, really. "You do look like you could use another drink, though." She pointed to Kara's empty glass.

"Yeah, but I can wait," Kara said, removing her hand from her face and placing it back on the tabletop. Lena noticed a whitish scar in the shape of a W on the back of it, and she wondered briefly how Kara got it. "You haven't finished your drink yet," the blonde pointed out.

Lena looked down to the drink in question, almost surprised to see it was still nearly full. That was abnormal for her. She usually drank quickly, but she'd been so busy listening to Kara that she'd completely forgotten the drink's existence until Kara reminded her of it. So, she downed it in an impressive two gulps, and when she lowered the glass the blonde was looking at her, stunned and eyebrows raised.

"Vodka-Sprite?" Lena asked, taking Kara's empty glass as she stood. The other woman nodded, and Lena sauntered over to the bar, where Ray was busy polishing glasses again. He fumbled and nearly dropped one when Lena went up and said, "Can I get another vodka-Sprite, and this time just a Jameson on the rocks?"

"Sure," Ray said instantly. He began making the drinks, glancing up at Lena so often that he accidentally overflowed Kara's drink and had to restart. "Sorry about that," he said nervously as he handed the drinks to her.

"Totally fine," Lena said, holding her card out for him to take.

"And will you be opening or closing that tab, Ms. Luthor?" Ray asked, not having even checked the card for her name yet. So, he did recognize her, after all.

She thought about it for a moment. Normally she'd leave it open so she could keep drinking until her heart was content—which wouldn't be after only two drinks. But she didn't need to be making a drunken fool of herself in public or make herself look bad in front of Kara.

"Just close it out, please, Ray," she said finally.

"You—you know my name?" Ray asked in amazement.

"You're wearing a nametag," Lena said politely, pointing at it.

Ray glanced down at the tag, then back up with a blush starting to creep up his neck. "Oh. Right."

He hastily ran her card then handed her back the slip to sign, and Lena noticed his hands were shaking when he handed her the pen. Lena took it from him with a small smile, not even caring about the price of the drinks, but making sure to write out a neat $500 in the tip section. She handed it over without a second thought, and when he took it and looked down, he did a double take before his eyes went wide.

"I—I think you made a mistake for the tip," he said, attempting to hand the receipt back.

But Lena just shook her head. "No, I didn't." She offered a final smile before picking up the drinks and walking off without an explanation.

When she got back to the table Kara was frowning down at her phone. The moment Lena slid into the booth across from her, though, Kara locked her phone and set it down on the table, the smile returning to her face.

"Thank you," she said, her eyes meeting Lena's briefly.

"Of course," Lena said with a dismissive hand wave before taking a sip of her whiskey. "So, where's the rest of your crew?" She gestured to the empty booth.

"Well, Nia didn't want to come," Kara said, pausing to sip her vodka-Sprite. "And Sam decided to stay home with her baby, according to the text I just got." She shrugged before checking her phone again. "And my friend James _still_ hasn't texted me back, so I doubt he's going to show."

Lena's pulsed quickened. "Did you invite anyone else?"

"No." Kara shook her head. "I don't really know enough people on this set yet to have anyone I felt like inviting."

"So, it's just you and me, then?" The trademark eyebrow quirk from Lena that Kara had seen her do in so many roles before.

The blonde was glad she was sitting because it made her knees go weak. "Yeah," Kara said, beginning to feel flustered and taking a big sip of her drink to calm herself. When she set it back down, she ran a nervous hand through her golden waves. "If you wanted to take off since everyone flaked, I'd understand."

Lena stared at her for a moment, her gaze never leaving those sincere, blue eyes. Kara was giving her an out. She recognized the change in dynamic now that a group was no longer expected, and she understood that the change could potentially make Lena uncomfortable. It was incredibly touching because most people tried to squeeze out as much time from her as they could, even if she was making it blatantly obvious that it was unwelcome. But that wasn't the case here.

"I'm not ready to leave just yet. We've only just gotten these drinks," Lena said, taking a small sip of hers for emphasis before going on, "Besides, I'm enjoying your company."

"Really?" Kara's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Yes." Lena furrowed her brow and gazed at the blonde questioningly. "Is that hard to believe?"

"Kind of," Kara said with a self-depreciating laugh and took a large swallow of her mixed drink, frowning at the bitter yet sweet concoction.

"Why?" Another one of those eyebrow quirks, and Kara's face began to heat up again.

"I mean, I'm just—not anything special," she said with a sigh.

"I disagree," Lena said with a shake of the head. "You're kind, driven, and beautiful."

"I—" Kara cleared her throat. "You think I'm beautiful?"

Lena inhaled sharply. "Objectively speaking, of course."

"Objectively." Kara raised her eyebrows, yet the rest of her face fell. "Of course."

Lena realized in her attempt to cover up her blunder she'd unintentionally made a somewhat backhanded compliment—just like Lillian was famous for. She shot down the rest of her whiskey, ignoring how much it burned. "Your girlfriend must be one lucky woman," she said, hoping that by saying so she could show that she found Kara attractive enough to find a partner, and also to see if there was some girlfriend she didn't know about because Kara didn't post about her on social media.

But Kara shook her head quickly. "I don't have a girlfriend."

"No?" Lena's heart thudded rapidly in her chest, and she could hear the beat clearly in her ears over the soft music coming from the jukebox.

"No." Kara gazed intently at Lena, bit her bottom lip for a moment. Then she let it go, clearing her throat. "What about you?"

Lena gaped at her, not sure how to answer. "Do I—Are you asking if I have a girlfriend?"

"I—" Kara's face went beet red, and she seemed to choke on her own spit because she coughed a few times. "No, I mean… I just feel like all we've talked about is me," she said, her voice somewhat raspy. She gulped down the rest of her drink before saying, "Tell me something about you."

"What do you want to know?" Lena asked coyly, leaning her elbows on the table. She was used to people just flat-out asking her questions about literally anything and everything in her life. When asked to volunteer the information herself, though, usually the only thing that came to her mind was _gay and repressed_.

Kara thought about it for a second, before firing off, "If you could go one place in the world right now, where would it be?"

That caught Lena off-guard. Not because she didn't know the answer, but because it wasn't the typical crap fans or even talk show hosts asked. They usually always wanted to know about her work or dating life—mostly the dating. This was different and refreshing.

"Ireland, oddly enough" Lena said, the corners of her mouth lifting into a smile.

Kara let out a small laugh. "Same, actually." She sighed whimsically. "I miss it every day." Her eyes averted for just a second, then flicked back to Lena, interest evident on her face. "Why Ireland?"

Lena hesitated, unsure of how much she felt okay saying about this to someone she'd just met. "It's where my mother was from."

"Huh," Kara said with a small frown. "I didn't know Lillian Luthor was from Ireland."

Lena ducked her head, biting back a comment. She took a few deep breaths to ground herself before looking up again. "Anything else you want to know?" she asked to get the topic off her family.

"Uh." Kara blew out a breath as she thought about it. "What's your favorite movie?"

"_Titanic_," Lena answered, gasping when Kara frowned. "_What_?"

"Nothing," Kara said, instantly dropping the frown. "_Titanic_'s fine. I didn't say anything."

"Okay, Little Miss Screenwriter, what's your favorite movie?" Lena asked playfully, nodding to Kara's shirt. "_Jurassic Park_?"

"No, but that one's definitely up there on the list," Kara said with a laugh and a small head shake. "Mine's actually _The Wizard of Oz_. It's a cinematic marvel and masterpiece."

Lena narrowed her eyes. "You have the nerve to make a face at _Titanic_, yet your favorite movie is a musical."

"Hey, first of all, we do not disrespect _The Wizard of Oz_," Kara said, holding up a hand defensively, though there was a small grin on her face. "And second, what do you have against musicals?"

"Um, I can't sing or dance, so I can't do them, and I'm jealous, thank you very much," Lena said in a joking manner, though deep down it was true.

Kara laughed at that. "That doesn't mean you can't still enjoy them." She shrugged her shoulders. "_Rent _is amazing, and the songs are iconic." She smirked. "My second favorite movie is actually a musical called _Girltrash: All Night Long_. My sister and I sing the music all the time."

"What's that?" Lena said, suddenly interested. "I've never heard of it."

"It's just this lesbian comedy musical based on a web series from 2007," Kara said, as if that explained literally anything about it. "It's funny, has a good plot, the characters have arcs and clear goals, and it actually has a happy ending," she listed. "And I've seen it at least twenty times."

Ray must have made Lena's drinks considerably stronger than she thought because the next words out of her mouth were, "Interested in making it twenty-one times?"

Kara froze for a second then stammered out, "You want—Want to watch—With me?" She cleared her throat before nodding emphatically. "Okay, yeah, sure. When?"

Lena, still in shock that she'd asked, let alone that her offer had been accepted, glanced at the time on her phone quickly then looked up and asked before she lost her nerve, "How about now?"

"I—Now? Y—Yes. Yes." Kara winced at the fact that she was becoming a stuttering mess, but deep down she was just glad she hadn't started shaking like she normally did when she got anxious or overly excited. "It's not on Netflix anymore, but I have a copy on a hard drive at home."

Lena nodded. "Your house it is, then." She slid out of the booth, stopping to stare at Kara expectantly. The blonde simply stared at her, though, seeming rooted to the spot. "If that's alright with you," she quickly added, cheeks reddening as she realized she'd just invited herself over.

"It's great," Kara said, placing on a smile as she appeared to have recovered and hopped up from the booth. "I'll bring you home afterwards."

Lena nodded slowly. "Sure."

But as Kara led her out of the bar and back to the Jeep waiting around the corner, Lena knew that Kara bringing her home was the last way she wanted this night to end.

* * *

**and with that I bid you all a goodnight and sweet Supercorp dreams**


	7. Beautiful

**ADULT CONTENT WARNING**

Lena was surprised when they got to Kara's house barely five minutes after leaving the bar. But she saw the truck and trailer parked along the side of the street, and then Kara was turning into a driveway alongside a cute, red house with dark blue shutters. It seemed very fitting of Kara, but its close proximity to the bar made Lena realize Kara had gone out of her way to pick her up and would have to again to bring her home.

But if the blonde cared she didn't say anything about it, because she simply led Lena up the steps and onto the small porch. "Sorry if it's a little messy. I don't have much time to clean." She gave an apologetic smile before turning her key in the lock and opening the door.

She stood back to allow Lena to walk in first, following after her and flicking on the light. The living room was small but quaint, with framed movie posters on the walls, along with various photos. A plush, blue couch stood along one wall with a coffee table in front of it, and along the other wall was a fairly decent-sized TV on a stand.

There was an archway attaching to another room, which Lena noticed appeared to be used as an office. There was a desk along one wall that had a massive desktop computer and dual monitors. Kara also had not one, but _two _bookcases, and only one shelf wasn't completely full. Lena was instantly drawn to it, curious about the contents.

"That hard drive is around here somewhere," Kara muttered, eyes scanning the rental home. "Just give me one second."

The blonde went into the office and turned on the lamp on the desk, illuminating the room with a soft, warm glow. She busied herself with going through a set of plastic drawers next to the desk, and Lena took that opportunity to snoop—starting with the books.

Her eyes scanned the titles, smiling at the fact that Kara had all of the _Harry Potter_ books lined up neat, and they looked worn—as if they'd been read many times. There were also some of her other favorites, such as _Star Girl, A Song of Ice and Fire _series, and Amy Poehler's autobiography _Yes, Please!_ There were a few other titles she recognized: the underwhelming lesbian books Kara had mentioned earlier. She wrinkled her nose at one of them before turning her attention to the second bookshelf.

Then, right in front of Kara's collection of _A Series of Unfortunate Event _books, there was a glass pipe. It was white and blue with a big bowl that was mostly packed, just a small portion black with ash. A black lighter was sitting beside it, and Lena smirked when she saw the design on it was a T-Rex riding a scooter across the moon, similar to that scene from _E.T._

"Found it," Kara said, closing the drawer then walking over to Lena with a small, portable hard drive in her hands. She stopped short when she saw Lena had discovered her pipe. "Oh… Oops." She smiled sheepishly as she went to grab it. "Forgot to put that away."

"I'm not bothered by it," Lena said with a shrug. "I used to smoke all the time, but the person I usually get it from just moved to Metropolis, and I'm not exactly sure where to get it anymore."

"I have a reliable source." Kara grinned, then held out the pipe questioningly. "Do you want to hit this?"

Lena reached to take it, then stopped herself. "I wouldn't feel right. I don't want to mooch," she said, knowing how expensive drugs could be.

"It's not mooching if I'm offering," Kara insisted. "But you also don't have to do anything you don't want to do."

"It's not that I don't _want to_," Lena said, smiling shyly. "I'd just feel bad since I don't have anything to contribute."

"Well, if I'm not worried about it, you shouldn't be," the blonde responded honestly. "But seriously, if you want some, you're welcome to it. If not, I won't force it on you."

"Well…" Lena eyed the pipe longingly. "Since you're offering…"

Kara held it out again, eyebrows raised, and this time Lena took it. Kara grabbed the lighter off the bookcase and handed that to Lena, too, and when she took it their fingers brushed, shocking Lena so much she nearly dropped it. But she managed to hang onto it and take her hit, holding it in for a moment as she handed the pipe back to Kara.

It was good and smooth, and smelled amazing when she exhaled the cloud of smoke. It had been a while, so she coughed a little bit, covering her mouth with her elbow. Kara looked at her worriedly.

"Do you need something to drink?" the blonde questioned.

Lena swallowed, answering in a somewhat raspy voice, "Yes, please."

"Water, LaCroix?" Kara offered.

"No chance you have any wine?" Lena joked, but Kara instantly nodded.

"Red or white?"

Lena stared at her for a moment. "Uh, white?"

"Be right back." She motioned to the couch in the living room. "Make yourself at home."

Kara handed the pipe back her before disappearing into a hallway and making her way to the back of the house. Lena went to sit on the couch like Kara had suggested, placing the pipe and lighter on the coffee table for when Kara got back. Thankfully it didn't take long for the perky blonde to reemerge with a full wine glass in each hand.

"Your wine, Madame," Kara said with a playful grin as she handed one of the glasses to Lena.

"Thanks," Lena said, instantly taking a sip. Kara must've had it in the fridge, because it was nice and cold. It soothed her burning throat immensely.

Kara retrieved her hard drive from the back pocket of her shorts and went over and plugged it into the TV. She then turned it on and messed with the settings a bit until the movie started. Kara grabbed the remote off the coffee table and paused it before sitting down and turning to Lena.

"Now, before we start this, I just have to say that this movie is by no means the best film ever made. Far from it," Kara explained, her face flushing a bit. She set her glass of wine on the coffee table in favor of picking up the pipe and lighter instead. "It's just fun and cute, and it makes me happy, so I really love it."

"Kara, I'm not going to judge you," Lena said with a smile. "_I _wanted to watch this—What is it called again?"

"_Girltrash: All Night Long,_" Kara answered then took a hit of the pipe, letting it out slowly. She held it out for Lena, who set her wine next to Kara's in order to take it and the lighter. When her hands were free the blonde picked up the remote and gave Lena a sideways grin. "I apologize in advance if I sing along and ruin it."

"I highly doubt that would ruin it," Lena said with a tiny chuckle.

Kara smirked. "Okay, I warned you."

* * *

They started the movie, and right away Lena saw what Kara meant about the movie's quality. The budget was obviously very small, and the writing wasn't overly deep. In fact, some of it was just plain silly. But the characters did have clear goals and objectives, and Lena found herself on the edge of her seat to see how the story would play out.

When she wasn't smiling like an idiot at Kara singing along the entire time—not missing a word to a single song—that is. It was the only time Lena didn't pay attention to the movie, too busy watching the one-woman show next to her. Kara's voice was lovely— melodic and smooth. She could have listened to her sing all night.

But then the movie was over, giving them the happy ending she'd been promised. And it did make her happy, seeing a love story between two women play out so organically and even comically. Yet at the same time she felt a familiar sense of longing bubbling beneath the surface. And as she glanced sideways at Kara as she turned off the TV, it became so pertinent she had to look away again quickly because her heart felt like it was squeezing in her chest.

"So, what did you think?" Kara asked, setting the remote back on the coffee table next to the long-finished pipe.

"I actually kind of loved it," Lena said, daring to gaze at Kara again and catching a breath at the smile she was greeted with.

"Yeah?" The smile widened, all perfect white teeth, dazzling Lena with its brightness. "I'm surprised. The only other person I've ever watched it with is my sister, and she's a lesbian, too." Kara ducked her head momentarily. "It's nice to know a straight person can enjoy it."

Maybe it was the alcohol, or the pot, or maybe it was simply years of repression rearing its ugly head, but Lena heard herself blurt out instantly, "I'm not." And the look Kara gave her made her so unsettled that she almost felt as if she was going to be sick.

"Not…What?" Kara asked slowly.

Lena gulped, then whispered, "Straight."

Kara stared at her for a second, her mouth hanging open in surprise before saying, "Oh." Then she ran a somewhat shaky hand through her blonde curls. "I—Didn't know."

"Not many people do," Lena admitted, and though it was terrifying to be saying this to someone, at the same time it felt invigorating and freeing. "I don't really open up about my private life to the public." Not to mention Lillian wouldn't let her.

Kara's mind was going wild with this admission, though she tried to keep her face a mask of calm. But this was _huge._ The moment she'd first been introduced to Lena onscreen, she'd immediately developed a crush and looked into her. There weren't any romantic partners listed anywhere, but when Kara delved further, she noticed quite a few of Lena's fans happened to be lesbians—the majority of them, in fact. And they all claimed Lena's lack of a public romance throughout her entire career pointed to one thing: lesbianism. But with no proof to back it up, it was just an internet rumor she didn't want to put too much stock into.

To have her confirm this rumor was incredibly validating, and Kara knew if she told the lesbians on the internet then they would go absolutely mental. But that was something she would never do for a number of reasons. Most of which were Lena's privacy and the trust she was placing in Kara that she didn't want to break. Besides the fact that it would end her career if the source was traced back to her.

"You don't have to worry about me telling anyone," Kara assured her in a quiet voice.

"Thanks," Lena said, but something inside her wished Kara would. That way it would just be out there through no fault of her own so at least Lillian couldn't yell at her about it. But she would probably do it anyway for telling Kara in the first place. Lillian loved to find reasons to yell. She wondered what Lillian would think of her alone with Kara, drinking and smoking and blabbing her biggest secret.

Actually, she didn't have to wonder. She knew—Lillian would be furious. And that thought flipped some sort of switch in her brain. Suddenly her nerves were gone, and a fire started in her stomach, reminding her of why she'd wanted to come to Kara's in the first place.

"Well, you're officially over the legal limit of drinks to drive, not to mention the smoking," Lena said, casually leaning back into the couch as she gazed at the blonde. "I don't think it would be safe for you to drive me home at this point."

But Kara shook her head. "I'm actually fine." Then she thought about it. "But you're right, it's probably not a good idea." She sighed, her face falling a little as she asked, "Did you want to get a Lyft or an Uber instead?"

Lena bit her lip coyly. "I could just crash here."

Kara's eyes widened, and she took in a sharp breath. "Okay… You can have my bed, and I'll sleep here on the couch."

Lena nearly laughed. Clearly Kara was missing the point. "Why bother? I'm sure there's room for both of us."

"I—I just," Kara stammered, her face going as red as the paint on the outside of her house, "I don't want you to be uncomfortable."

"Kara, you sweet, oblivious woman," Lena said, actually laughing this time. "I wouldn't be uncomfortable." She shook her head, realizing she was going to have to spell it out to her. So, she scooted along the couch so that their thighs were pressed together and placed a hand on Kara's knee. Then she looked right into those curious, blue eyes and said, "I'm coming onto you."

Kara didn't know what to say. She didn't know if she _could _say anything. Her mouth was dry, and her brain wasn't forming coherent thoughts. She wasn't even sure she'd heard Lena right, or if she'd simply imagined it because it was what she wanted to hear. And the intensity of Lena's eyes boring into hers wasn't helping her to recover her senses any time soon, because she just sat there staring instead of speaking. Then Lena's confidence began to waver, and she went to move her hand away from Kara's knee.

"Unless you'd rather I leave," she muttered.

"No!" Kara reached out and grabbed Lena's hand, holding on and lacing their fingers together. "Sorry, I was just surprised." She took in a breath and used her free hand to shakily reach up and tuck a stray strand of hair behind Lena's ear. "I'd like very much if you'd stay."

The boldness was back, and Lena's cheek burned where Kara's fingertips hand brushed against it. "Would you like to show me your room?"

The blonde gulped and simply nodded when words failed her again. Lena stood from the couch, tugging at Kara's hand, and the slightly older woman was up in an instant. Kara led her by the hand through a hallway with a bathroom off to the side, and then a bedroom.

There wasn't much furniture in the room: just a nightstand with a lamp and a book on its top, an oak armoire, and a full-sized bed in the center. It was nowhere near as big as Lena's king-sized bed, but it would fit two people. That was the end of Lena's list of requirements when it came to beds at the moment.

"Sorry my bed's not made," Kara said, glancing at tousled sheets.

Lena just shrugged. "We'd just ruin it anyway."

Kara let out a small, nervous giggle, and Lena thought it was so cute that she had the urge to pinch her cheeks. But then Kara was hesitantly pulling on her hand, closing the gap between them, and something in those blue eyes darkened. Suddenly there was a lot more that Lena wanted to do other than pinching cheeks.

The brunette stepped closer, draping an arm over Kara's shoulder and tangling her fingers in those blonde curls. A hand went to her waist, pulled her in so their bodies were pressed together. Kara leaned in agonizingly slowly, and Lena was too impatient to wait, so she met her halfway.

Kara kissed her slowly at first, and Lena nearly melted at how good her lips felt moving against her own. They were soft and smooth, and she felt tingles going up her spine. And as Lena felt a curious hand roam up the back of her shirt, she felt her arousal growing, like a knot tightening in her stomach. As gentle as Kara was, Lena was hungry for more, and she kissed back firmly. And then Kara's tongue was sliding into her mouth, and her legs began to feel like jelly, so she pushed on the blonde's shoulders until her knees hit the back of the bed and she fell to a sitting position.

Lena straddled her hips, draping herself over the other woman as their kisses became hotter and wetter. The brunette was intoxicated by the fingers digging into her skin, subtle yet pleasant pressure. Her skin burned under the touch, and she longed to have her clothes off and feel Kara flush against her.

The kiss only broke so that Lena could hastily reach down and grab the hem of her shirt, pulling it over her head and tossing it aside before leaning into Kara again. She kissed her briefly, then stood in front of her and bit down on her bottom lip as she pulled at Kara's tank top. The blonde helped her take it off, and Lena openly ogled the red, lacy bra Kara was wearing underneath. It was so feminine and unexpected, but incredibly attractive—even if Lena thought it would look much better on the floor.

Kara stood, hovering her face inches from Lena's. When the brunette leaned in for another kiss, though, the blonde pulled back slightly, playfully. She smirked and bit her lip as she brought a hand up and gently dragged her index finger in the valley between Lena's breasts, until it got to the clasp on the front of her black bra. Questioning blue eyes flicked to hers, and Lena simply nodded her consent.

Lena took in a breath as nimble fingers undid the clasp, then Kara was pushing the garment off her shoulders, eyes wide with amazement and wonder. Lena flushed under her gaze, but then Kara's eyes were back on her face, and the blonde gave a seductive smile.

"You're so beautiful," she muttered.

"I could say the same to you," Lena shot back and looped a finger through the beltloop of Kara's jean shorts, pulling her close again.

Her other hand went to the button and undid it, then slowly slid the zipper down. Kara helped her to push them down her thighs and stepped out of them, and Lena's breathing hitched as she saw red boxer briefs with a black, elastic band.

Every part of Kara was muscular—her arms, her abs, even her calves were well-defined. It was enough to make her feel inadequate, but Kara was looking at her with such _longing_ that she felt emboldened instead. Then the blonde's hands were unfastening her skinny jeans and sliding them down her legs, and Lena stepped out of them and kicked them to the side. Kara's eyes raked over Lena, and she bit lip. When her eyes flicked back to the brunette's, they were lust-filled and dark.

Lena kissed her again, and Kara kissed her back with such intensity that she began to see stars. Kara effortlessly scooped up Lena, wrapping the brunette's legs around her waist, but the movie star didn't have time to be shocked at Kara's strength because a second later she was placed onto the bed with the blonde on top of her. Kara kissed a trail across Lena's jawline, then down along the curve of her neck. Lena groaned pleasantly as those lips went lower, and then she let out a hiss a Kara took a nipple into her mouth and swirled her tongue around it. She gripped onto Kara's hair, tugging at it gently to urge her to keep going. All she could focus on was a hot mouth on her skin, and then it was gone, her nipple stiff and erect and Kara turned her attention to the other.

By the time she was done Lena could feel herself soaking through her black panties, and probably onto Kara's sheets. And as those lips continued to go lower, she could barely hold in a whimper as those strong hands she'd daydreamed about went to her underwear and began to pull it down. A blush started to form, warming her face as Kara took her in.

"So beautiful," the blonde said again, dropping the garment onto the floor near her bed.

She threw her hair back over her shoulder as she knelt before Lena on the bed, placing butterfly kisses along the inside of her thighs. Lena rested her head back on the pillows and took in a sharp, anticipating breath. The moment soft, warm lips closed around her clit it was like a jolt of electricity went through her, and she had to stop herself from bucking her hips into Kara's face with impatience.

But Kara seemed to sense her urgency, because a slick tongue rolled across the nerve, and Lena let out a loud moan that she'd been holding back since the first moment Kara touched her. It grew louder when a finger slid into her, and she could feel a pleasant pressure building in her hips.

She was about to ask for a second finger, but it was as if Kara already knew that was what she needed, because the middle joined the index. And then the blonde was moving them in and out, flicking her tongue in rhythm with her strokes, noticing Lena's walls beginning to tighten around her digits. Then she curled her fingers in _just_ the right way, and Lena's back began to arch off the bed.

When she came it was hard and fast, rolling through her body as Kara kept up her pace until finally Lena's body gave a final shudder. The brunette closed her eyes for a moment and tried to get her breathing back to normal, and when she opened them again Kara was settling beside her on the bed. She lay on her side, elbow bent, and head propped up on her hand. The other hand lay at her side, still slick and shiny. Lena took it in her own and brought it up to her mouth, closing her lips around Kara's fingers and sucking them clean.

The blonde's eyes went wide, and she let out a soft whine as Lena's tongue glided across her fingers. She slowly withdrew them from plump lips, then cupping Lena's cheek instead as she leaned forward and kissed her.

Kara could taste the arousal on Lena's tongue, and it only added to hers. Her boxer briefs were still in place, uncomfortably wet. Lena made this discovery herself when she began to stroke the woman on the outside of her underwear. Kara bit down on Lena's lip in response, pulling away slowly before letting it go.

Kara sat up and swept her hair over her shoulder, putting her back to Lena and exposing the clasp of her bra. Lena smiled a little as she undid it, watching as Kara slid it off her shoulders and let it fall to the floor. When she turned back around, her face was so soft and vulnerable that Lena didn't even think to look at her chest. Until Kara bit her lip shyly and glanced down. Then that's where Lena's eyes went, and _good lord_. She was breathtaking.

Literally—because Lena had to remind herself to breathe.

And as Kara reached down and took off those boxers, Lena's jaw may have dropped _a little_. But she recovered quickly when the blonde's lips were on hers again, arms weaving around her and pulling her close. Feeling Kara's body flush and warm against her own was everything she'd dreamed it would be, and as a tongue prodded into her mouth, a moan emitted, low and growly in the back of her throat.

She touched Kara's abs, amazed at the solidness of them under soft skin. But then she dragged her hand lower, to the heat radiating from her center. Kara drew in a breath and paused in kissing Lena for a moment as a finger raked through her folds before gliding in. Kara sighed into Lena's mouth when a second finger joined it a second later, and as those fingers began to pump in and out of her slowly, her lips started to move again, hungry and needy against Lena's.

The brunette swiped a thumb across Kara's clit, and she felt the blonde tense under her. Pressing her thumb into the nerve again caused Kara to roll her hips into Lena's touch, and as the starlet increased her speed the other woman's breathing became so erratic that she had to break the kiss and instead press her forehead against Lena's. Small whines left Kara's mouth, until Lena felt her tightening around her fingers. A few more passes of Lena's thumb over Kara's clit, and then she let out a tiny cry as Lena's fingers were flooded with wetness and Kara's body shook so hard she was practically vibrating.

Lena didn't cease her movements until the shaking stopped, and Kara let out a final sigh as the actor withdrew her hand and licked her own fingers clean. Kara watched her do it, chest heaving with deep breaths, then put her hand on the back of Lena's head and pulled her in for another scorching kiss. She could taste herself on Lena's lips, and she had to pull away quickly because her core was still throbbing, and she needed time to recover before getting worked up again.

When they pulled away, the two women stared at each other breathlessly, until each broke out into a grin followed by soft giggles. Lena covered her face with one of her hands bashfully, but Kara just reached up and took it in her own, placing a gentle kiss on the back of it. Lena threaded their fingers together as she smiled at Kara again, heart fluttering at the gesture.

"Would you like some water?" Kara asked, her voice a little deeper than usual.

Lena nodded. "Please."

"Be right back."

Kara dropped her hand but kissed her on the cheek quickly before leaving the bed and scurrying out the door, giving Lena a marvelous view when she got up. Lena sighed happily and settled back onto the pillows, enjoying the smell of Kara that surrounded her.

Now that she was coming down from not only her orgasm but her high, she knew she probably should have been worried about the repercussions of what she and Kara had just done.

Most women she slept with didn't run in the same circles as her, and she most certainly never fucked anyone she worked with—actor or crew. There was that whole saying about not shitting where you eat that she thought was crude, but pretty smart. Comingling with coworkers could lead to uncomfortable situations should things go south. And as she glanced up at Kara's bedroom wall with the pride flag from the photo she'd seen hanging there, something in her gut told her she'd probably made a mistake.

Kara was obviously out and proud, what Lena wished she could be—unfortunately, she wasn't there yet. Pursuing any kind of relationship with Kara wouldn't be fair to her because it would be like forcing her back in the closet. Lena didn't want to subject Kara to that. Not to mention she was famous. That would invite so much attention into Kara's life, and she wasn't sure if the other woman wanted that. At least when she slept with another famous person that wasn't a worry. But those women also liked to keep things behind closed doors because it was better and easier that way.

They'd had just been sex for her, and Lena liked it that way. Navigating a relationship could be messy, and the thought of getting close to anyone was absolutely terrifying. But something about the way Kara looked at her made her feel like there could be something more there, and honestly that should have sent her scrambling for her clothes and running out the door then and there.

Yet nothing in her wanted to move, and a moment after the thought fled her brain, Kara reappeared with two bottles of water. Lena pulled back the covers on the other side of the bed and patted the spot next to her, smiling as the blonde walked over and sat beside her.

* * *

**you're welcome.**


	8. Goodbye

**Hope all you Americans had a nice Turkey day. And the rest of you, happy Monday.**

* * *

Kara downed her water in one go, while Lena sat there daintily sipping hers. She noticed that Kara seemed to do most things fast—walk, talk, drink. Even their lovemaking had been quick, though not unsatisfying.

On the contrary. While quick, there was a neediness and urgency behind it, and it was over so soon because it was _that good_. Lena wondered what it would have been like had they taken their time, savored every touch and sigh. She had a pretty good feeling it would have been even more amazing, and as she cast a sideways glance at Kara, she realized she was overwhelmingly interested in finding out.

That thought alone should have terrified her. Never in her life had she thought about the _next time_ she would sleep with someone. Usually she couldn't stand to be in the same room with a person five minutes post-coitus, let alone want to go for round two. She normally couldn't wait to get home and shower so she could wash the feeling of another person off her skin. And then she didn't think of the woman again until she was hot and bothered and needing of release.

There was never talking before or after these encounters, Lena not liking the vulnerability she felt along with the intimacy. Spending the whole night with these women was something she simply never did. She didn't want to wake up next to them in the morning and risk the feelings that could leech themselves onto her if she allowed herself to abandon her life of solidarity.

Which was why this whole situation was all the more puzzling. She willingly offered to spend the night, breaking one of her own rules right off the bat. Then, the longer she lay there staring at a naked Kara, the more she wanted to climb on top of her and take her again. But as Lena finished her water, they just kept talking—and Lena enjoyed the conversation so much that she didn't want to interrupt.

Then Kara got out of bed to roll a joint and came back with that, an ashtray, and lighter in hand. She set the ashtray on the nightstand before putting the joint between her lips and lighting it. She pulled in a hit, the tip burning bright red as smoke started to float towards the ceiling. The blonde held in the hit as she handed the doobie to Lena.

She took it, inspecting it for a moment. It had a filter at the one end, and it was narrow near there, getting bigger at the top. It wasn't the most beautiful or best joint she'd ever seen, but it was sure as hell better than anything she'd ever rolled by hand. She was lazy and boujie and had bought a roller. But she could appreciate Kara's work.

And when she took a hit, she appreciated it even more. The smoke slid down her throat, and when she let out the cloud, she was happy that she didn't cough. "Damn, I missed weed," Lena said as she handed the j back to Kara.

"You know it's really easy to get, right?" Kara said with a small laugh. "This _is _California. There are dispensaries everywhere."

"I've never been to one. I used to know someone who grew his own, and he just brought it to me," Lena admitted. "I know there's technically nothing stopping me now that it's legal, but I'm kind of terrified there will be photos of me there that'll come out." She shrugged as Kara took her hit, then handed the joint back, taking it as she went on, "Then my mother will go apeshit, and I just don't want to deal with it."

"Why would she care?" Kara asked with a frown. "You're, what, twenty-six? You undoubtedly own your own place, so you're not under her roof. Not to mention marijuana is _legal_, and so many people do it."

"I'm not those other people, though," Lena said quietly. "She's worried about it ruining my image." She took her hit and handed the joint back, then ran a frustrated hand through my hair. "Everything with her is always about my image."

There was a bitterness in Lena's voice, and her features darkened ever so slightly. Obviously, the topic of her mother struck a chord with Lena. Kara didn't claim to know much about Lillian Luthor. She'd had a sub-par film career, her greatest achievements being that she married Lionel Luthor and was the mother to Lex and Lena. But the way Lena spoke about her made Kara silently seethe with hatred for the woman she'd never even met.

"Is—is she part of why you're not out?" Kara asked carefully, watching Lena's face for a reaction.

"She's the entire reason," Lena said, shoulders tensing. She glanced at the pride flag on the wall, chewing on her lip. "She insists it'll ruin my career."

"That's a load of crap!" Kara said, a little too passionately. She took in a breath to calm herself before going on, "Look at Ellen DeGeneres and Neil Patrick Harris. And Elton John, Freddie Mercury, Hayley Kiyoko. Not to mention Sara Lance and Ava Sharpe," she listed. "Sara and Ava are actually filming something in National City soon. It's that mystery movie written by Iris West, a _lesbian _screenwriter."

"_Life Lessons_," Lena said, looking back to Kara with a sad smile. "I auditioned for that. They chose Ava Sharpe over me."

"Oh," Kara said, surmising from the sadness evident on Lena's face that she wasn't pleased at all with being passed over for the part. "Well… They're dumb, then. You would have been amazing." She stamped out the rest of the joint in the ashtray and fit the stub into one of the prongs in the side before reaching over and taking one of Lena's hands in her own. "But on the bright side, if you'd done that movie, then we wouldn't have met."

Lena looked down to their hands, realizing the truth behind the words. And then the smallest twinge of fear started in her gut. "You're right," she said, looking back up to Kara, stomach knotting at how beautiful and earnest she looked. "But I'm afraid I've already made a mess of things."

Kara's brows knitted together in confusion, but she didn't take her hand from Lena's. "What do you mean?"

"You're out and proud. I'm not," Lena said simply, giving a small shrug. "Getting involved with me would mean somewhat forcing you back into a closet, and I don't want that for you. The closet is my burden to bear, and I won't ask you to carry it."

"I mean—" Kara paused, frowning, trying to gather her thoughts. "I see your point, I do. I will say, though, that I have dated women who were in the closet before."

Lena gazed at her. "And how did that go?"

Another frown. "Not well." Then she took her hand from Lena's, running it through her unruly blonde curls instead. "Once I went somewhere with this woman and her mother, and after the event her mom asked us if we met any guys. It was really awkward."

"See?" Lena quirked an eyebrow.

"That's not why it didn't work out, though," Kara said with a sigh. "She just kind of… Ghosted me."

"She's a bitch," Lena said instantly, causing the blonde to chuckle lightly.

"Thanks," she responded, a smile lingering on her lips. "But back to your hidden sexuality being your burden to bear alone… I think you're really wrong about that. And that's me speaking from experience." She shrugged, eyes firmly locked with Lena's. "The longer you carry something like that around, the more it weighs you down. Eventually you're going to need someone to help you or you'll be crushed."

"And you want to help me carry it?" Lena asked, eyeing Kara curiously.

"I wouldn't mind," Kara said honestly, the truth of her words hitting Lena hard in the chest and causing her to catch a breath. "The thing is, though, you can't carry it around forever. I—and anyone else—can only do so much. You have to decide to get out from under this weight on your own, to face coming out."

Lena was quiet for a moment before muttering, "I'm not sure that I'm ready to do that just yet."

"No one said you had to be," Kara said, her voice kind and soft. "Everyone gets there on their own time. I got there so soon because I had an amazing support system behind me. My friends and family have been so accepting and loving that coming out was relatively easy, even if it was scary at first."

"I envy you," Lena said, trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice. While she was glad Kara had that nice experience, it was far from her own. "Lillian wanted to send me to conversion therapy, and I didn't even bother telling Lex after that. The one friend that I told was so scared I was going to start trying to seduce her that we stopped being friends shortly after, and I never got the courage to try again." She sighed, rested back on the pillows again with a small frown. "I think you're the first person I've actually said it to in nearly five years."

Kara's eyes went wide. "How are you managing?" she asked, shaking her head. "Doesn't that make, like, dating and stuff hard?"

"Not really," Lena said, then added. "But I don't really date. I've seen women in the past on a few occasions, but it was never anything serious. It never really can be when I can't go out on a real date with someone."

"How do you meet anyone, then?" Kara asked, then added, "Even if you're not dating them exclusively, I feel like coming out to each other is a huge part of the initial interactions of dating. How else would you know that they're open to dating women?"

"They usually find me," Lena said, pulling nervously at her fingers. "Women just come up to me and start flirting, I respond positively, and it goes from there."

Kara blinked at her in confusion for a few moments. "So, you're_ usually_ not the one who initiates things?"

Lena blushed, admitting, "No, I'm usually not."

"Well," Kara said, reaching out and taking Lena's hand again, stopping her nervous fidgeting. "I'm glad I was the exception."

Lena smiled at the gesture, only for a moment before dropping her gaze to their intertwined fingers. "I'm afraid you're going to expect too much from me."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean—" Lena sighed, looking to Kara's face again, "I'm an absolute fucking mess. I'm heavily closeted, still somewhat self-loathing, and I don't even have close friends. I'm nowhere near capable of being able to handle any kind of real relationship. I'm the last person you should be setting your sights on, and I knew this when I seduced you, but of course you're just so fucking pretty, and I couldn't help myself." She growled slightly and pulled her hand away.

"Hey," Kara said in a quiet, calming voice. She reached out and rested her hand on Lena's knee, rubbing her thumb in small circles. "You didn't _seduce_ me. I'm an adult, and I was perfectly aware of what I was doing the whole time. If anything, I seduced _you_."

Lena's jaw practically dropped. "How?"

"I mean, I invited you out for drinks, brought you to my house, and then gave you weed," Kara listed, and when she said it like that it did sound a little bad.

"I was a willing participant in all of that," Lena said quickly, shaking her head.

"Just like I willingly took you to my bed," Kara pointed out, raising her eyebrows. "There's a lot of shame society likes to put on us. They make us out to be predators so much that sometimes we put that on ourselves sometimes. It's not fair." She gave Lena's knee a gentle squeeze and smiled at her kindly. "We didn't do anything wrong. So, there's no reason for either of us to feel bad. Okay?"

Lena gave a half-smile. "I know you're right, but I still feel guilty."

"Lena, _why_?" Kara asked with a small groan.

"Because I can't offer you a loving, involved relationship," Lena responded, her stomach twisting unpleasantly as the words left her mouth. "I don't know how to do that. I've never done it before. I know I should have said so beforehand, and I apologize for my one-track mind—"

"Lena, it's fine," Kara said quickly, though quietly. "It's not like I stopped you to talk." The blonde let out a deep sigh. "In all honesty, I didn't expect any of this to happen _at all_. So, in regard to me expecting anything from you going forward… I'm not."

And she wasn't. Kara wasn't stupid. She knew her place in the world. She was a crew member, someone who served other people. People like Lena—the rich and famous. It would have been naïve of her to think there would be any place for her in Lena's world.

Yet she would have been lying if she said it didn't devastate her to admit. Sure, she knew she didn't belong with someone like Lena Luthor. But Kara was a dreamer. She always had been. Something in her always wanted to believe in the impossible, that she could do great things. Wanting to write and sell her own novels and adapt her own screenplays was ambitious to say the least, and somewhere deep down inside she knew accomplishing that goal was a long shot. However, she still held onto the hope that she could beat the odds and make it happen.

Just like even though she knew this little tryst with Lena most likely wouldn't lead to some big, fairytale romance, there was still a part of her that wanted that. Despite the fact that she knew it was illogical and even laughable to think that Lena could want her for more than just a few hours, she still felt her heart sinking as reality set in.

"You're not?" Lena asked slowly, eyeing Kara carefully.

The blonde tried her best to keep her face neutral. "No." She shook her head. "I didn't think you'd want to date someone like me."

Lena sat up at that, taking Kara's hand that was on her knee and holding onto it. "Kara, this isn't about _you_. I actually really like you. This is all me. I'm just not a good partner, and I know I wouldn't be good to you." She looked into those blue eyes, unblinking. "You deserve someone who is going to be able to really, truly be with you. Someone you can take on dates and be obnoxiously cute with on social media. That's not me."

Kara thought about that for a moment, chewing her lip. She had to admit, all the things Lena was talking about were things Kara wanted. She had always wanted the loving, happy relationships all her friends had. She wanted the woman she could go out with, the woman she could kiss any time she wanted, the woman she could see herself one day coming home to.

She'd dated in the past, but she'd never gotten to that point with anyone. It wasn't that she was against relationships. It was just that every one she tried to enter into seemed to self-implode before it even really gathered momentum, as if some supernatural force saw her getting too close to being happy and decided to throw an explosive into her life.

And now it seemed that knowingly trying to pursue Lena after she blatantly expressed she couldn't give Kara what she wanted was as stupid as pulling the pin on a grenade and throwing it at her own feet—calibrated self-destruction.

"I hear you," Kara said finally, giving Lena a small smile. "Loud and clear." She sighed softly, glancing down at their still intertwined hands. "So, this probably shouldn't happen again after tonight, then?"

Lena's heart dropped to her stomach as Kara's words settled over her, but she nodded weakly. "Probably not."

Kara nodded as well, trying hard not to frown as she felt a hollowness in her chest. She swallowed thickly and shoved it down, taking in a shaky breath. "Well then maybe we should make the most of it?"

Lena's green eyes widened questioningly, and she quirked and eyebrow and asked, "Meaning?"

"Meaning—" Kara paused to tug on Lena's hand, and her other went to Lena's waist and gently pulled her closer. Lena took the hint and moved so that she was straddling Kara's hips, arms instantly draping over her shoulders. Kara leaned forward and nuzzled her nose close to Lena's, muttering against her lips, "If this is the last time we're together like this, I want to properly say goodbye." She pulled back ever so slightly to look into Lena's eyes questioningly. "If that's alright."

And Lena, who never claimed to have much will power to begin with, simply muttered a quiet, "Yes," before pressing her lips to Kara's.

* * *

Lena woke up the next morning slightly disoriented. At first she wasn't sure where she was since the room was so dark, but she knew she wasn't in her penthouse or her massive bed. This bed was much smaller, the sheets felt different, and the pillows smelled of an unfamiliar lavender shampoo.

Then it all came back to her, and she sat up as she realized where she was, and the fact that her host wasn't next to her. She groggily reached over and switched on the lamp on Kara's side of the bed, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the light. Yawning, she climbed out of bed and located her top and underwear on the floor from the night before and shimmied into them before padding out of Kara's room.

She heard a faint sizzling sound and smelled the undeniable scent of bacon and followed them down the hall to the back of the house, entering into a kitchen. It had dark counters with marble tops, all-black appliances, a pantry off along one wall, and a small set of table and chairs tucked into one corner.

Kara stood at the stove, clad in a fresh pair of boxer-briefs—these a royal blue—and an old Demi Lovato t-shirt. Her hair was down and wavy, falling over her shoulders in ringlets. How did she manage to be so beautiful, even just out of bed? Lena hadn't even looked in the mirror, but she was sure she looked like a gremlin.

Kara looked up from the pans of bacon and eggs she was cooking and smiled when she saw Lena standing there. "Good morning," she said brightly. "Coffee?" She pointed to the pot, still underneath the percolator. It looked like a good bit was already missing.

"Please." Lena yawned as she stepped further into the kitchen, crossing her arms over her chest self-consciously.

Kara put down the spatula to reach into one of the cabinets and grab a mug, then handed it to Lena. "You take it hot, right?"

Lena smiled a little as she took the mug. "I do."

"Help yourself," Kara said, returning the smile as she turned her attention back to the food.

Lena poured herself a serving, nearly finishing the pot. She noticed Kara had a glass instead of a mug that held coffee, appearing to have been lightened with milk or creamer, and Kara had added ice to it.

"This will be ready in just a second," Kara said over her shoulder.

Lena nodded as she took a sip of her coffee, shuddering pleasantly as it hit her tired soul. "Is there anything you need me to do?"

"Uh." Kara frowned as she thought about it for a second. "There's a loaf of bread in the pantry, if you want to put some in the toaster."

"Sure," Lena said, happy to make herself useful.

She set her coffee on the counter then went into the cabinet and found the bread on the top shelf. Then she put a couple slices in the toaster like Kara asked, just as Kara was turning off the flame under the eggs. She got two plates down from a cabinet and split them evenly between the two, then did the same with the bacon. Then she got the butter from the fridge and offered the tub to Lena, along with a knife.

Lena buttered her toast to eat separately, while Kara buttered hers then made a breakfast sandwich out of the bacon and eggs. Lena had to admit it was kind of smart—also it eliminated the need for utensils. As she pushed around her eggs with her fork Kara chomped happily on her sandwich, finishing much quicker than Lena, of course. So quickly that she gave herself the hiccups and had to take big gulps of her iced coffee to dissipate them.

When Lena was done, she set her fork on her plate and leaned back in her chair, letting out a satisfied sigh. "Either you're really good at cooking eggs, or I was starving, because that was great."

Kara laughed a little. "I think maybe you were just really hungry."

"Probably." Lena smirked, crossing her arms over her chest. "Honestly, sometimes when filming I get so caught up that I forget to eat throughout the day."

"I know where you can get some snacks," Kara said jokingly, giving a smile. "But I understand. People think since I'm around snacks all day that I'm eating them, but I really don't have time. Not to mention after a while none of it seems appetizing anymore."

"I can imagine," Lena said with a smile right back.

Kara stared at her for a moment, biting on her bottom lip for a moment before ducking her head. "Guess I better clean this up so I can get you home," she muttered.

That statement seemed to bring Lena back to reality, the reminder that their night was officially over, and she would have to go back to her life, back to her lonely penthouse across the city. The thought was so unappealing that Lena wanted to protest, to go against everything in her nature and ask for more time—just one more day, night with Kara. But doing so would be selfish, and she'd already given in too much, broken too many of her own rules.

"I'll help you," she offered instead.

They cleaned up in relative silence, and then they went to get dressed. Kara offered to let Lena borrow clean clothes, but Lena turned her down because she didn't have any idea how she'd get them back to her. So, she dressed herself back in her outfit from the previous night, while Kara simply put a bra on and replaced her shirt, then pulled on a pair of her usual basketball shorts and some of flip flops.

She gave Lena a new toothbrush she found in her cabinet that she'd gotten on her last dentist visit, and once their teeth were brushed, they were ready to head out the door. Or so Lena thought. That was until Kara stopped to put in a pair of contacts. Lena stared at her in amazement as she put in the first.

"I didn't know you wore contacts," she commented.

"That's the idea of contacts. To not know they're there," Kara said with a slight laugh, putting the left contact on the tip of her finger so she could put it in, too.

"I didn't see you take them off last night, though," Lena said, her face going red. "And you didn't put on glasses at any point."

"I took them out when I went to the bathroom before we went to sleep," Kara said with a shrug then titled her head back and dropped the contact into her eye. "I'm near-sighted, so I mostly just need them to drive."

"Oh," Lena said, slightly disappointed she didn't have the advantage of seeing Kara in glasses. She had a feeling they would make her even more appealing. There was something about the sophisticated look of glasses that sometimes drove Lena wild.

Kara just smiled at her. "Let's get you home."

The blonde grabbed her wallet from her fanny pack and put it in her pocket before grabbing her keys off the coffee table. Lena picked up her clutch containing her phone and keys from the couch and they were ready to set off, a heaviness in the brunette's chest at the thought of leaving the roughly twelve hours of bliss she'd experienced. She wasn't ready to let that go just yet.

"Wait," Lena said as Kara's hand went to the door, stopping the other woman in her tracks. She stepped closer to Kara, lifted her hands shakily and cupped her cheeks. "I want to keep you just a little while longer."

Kara melted into her touch, hands going to Lena's curvy waist and pulling her in closer. "I'm yours, then." She leaned in slightly, her lips close to Lena's as she whispered, "For as long as you want."

Then she kissed her, soft, slow, and tenderly, and Lena leaned into Kara's body for support as her hands moved from her face to her hair, tangling her fingers in golden threads. It was different than their kisses the night before, which had been mostly hot, heavy, and fervent. This was deep and passionate in its own right, yet not rushed in an attempt to prolong the moment.

When they finally pulled away, both breathing heavily and eyes slightly darker, Kara simply gave a melancholy smile before placing a final kiss to Lena's forehead. Then they untangled themselves and set out into the morning sun.

* * *

Kara played music as she drove Lena across the city back to her building. It was the only sound filling the car other than the soft purr of the motor or the tires rolling along the city streets. For a while at least. Until they started to get close and Kara started fidgeting in her seat, obviously antsy.

"This isn't going to make things weird between us on set, right?" she asked, casting a worried glance at Lena. "I mean it doesn't have to."

Lena's pulse raced, but she gave her a reassuring smile. "No, Kara. Don't worry."

"Okay, good," the blonde said, tension easing in her shoulders somewhat. "Because I do genuinely think you're a cool person, and I enjoy talking to you. I would hate for you to start avoiding crafty because of me or something."

"I won't," Lena said quickly, even if she wasn't certain how true that was. She wasn't sure if she could be around Kara for a prolonged period of time now without wanting to pull her off somewhere and shove her hand between her thighs. "I promise."

Kara let out a breath she seemed to have been holding. "Okay, good."

They were silent again until Lena's building came into sight, and Lena instructed Kara to drive into a gated parking garage. She took her key card from her clutch and handed it to Kara, who scanned it, and then the gate opened, allowing Kara to pull into the parking structure.

She pulled around to the back, where there were doors leading into a hallway that would take Lena to the lobby. This was the reason Lena had her pull into the garage instead of dropping her off around front where she'd picked her up. Out front there was no cover. Paparazzies could snap picture after picture of Kara dropping her off the morning after picking her up, wearing the same outfit as the night before. The garage offered more privacy and for Lena to have a final moment with Kara before leaving her and their wonderful night behind.

"Thanks for the ride," Lena said lamely as Kara put the car in park.

But Kara just smiled at her again. "No problem."

Lena returned it weakly, hesitating a moment more to say, "I had a lovely time with you."

"Me too," came Kara's reply in a small voice.

Lena bit her lip briefly before leaning over the console and placing a quick kiss on Kara's cheek. "I'm sorry I'm not able to offer you more," she said as she pulled away, glancing at her feet shyly. "I hope we can at least be friends."

Kara's heart squeezed painfully as the lines from that one Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes rang in her head about friends not knowing the way you taste. But she just nodded and said, "Yeah, for sure."

"Great," Lena said, though she felt anything but great. She felt like she'd been stabbed in the heart—and the worst part was that she wasn't sure if she'd done it to herself or handed Kara the knife in order to do it to her. Either way, it hurt all the same. "Well, I guess I'll see you Monday."

"Yeah, see you Monday," Kara responded, gripping the steering wheel again, a little too tightly. "Have a good rest of your weekend."

"You, too, Kara." And with all the strength she had left, Lena finally opened the door and got out of the car. But before closing the door she ducked her head inside one final time and said, "Bye."

"Goodbye, Lena," the blonde said in a low voice.

When Lena walked inside, she willed herself not to look back through the glass doors to see if Kara was watching her walk away. But after only a foot she lost her nerve and turned to see, to her disappointment, that Kara was already gone.

* * *

**If the CW doesn't make Supercorp process their feelings for each other, why should I?**

**Just kidding. They'll get there. Give them time.**


	9. Vortex

**Here's words.**

* * *

Kara was glad she had plans for on Saturday, because she didn't know how she would have made it through the day otherwise.

She ran to Walmart to pick up a birthday gift for Alex after dropping off Lena. Her sister's birthday was that day, and she'd been invited to dinner with her, her girlfriend Kelly, and Kelly's brother who happened to be Kara's friend from work, James.

But it wasn't even noon when Kara got back with the board game she'd bought, and it took her no time to wrap. Then she didn't know what to do with the rest of her day until dinner.

Normally when something major in her life happened, Alex was the first person Kara told. And she thought sleeping with her celebrity crush warranted a conversation with her sister—who was also her best friend, lame as that was. Yet she wasn't even able to do that because she'd promised Lena she wouldn't tell anyone about her being gay. And admitting she'd been inside of the actress would _definitely _out her.

So as much as she wanted to go straight to her sister's apartment and tell her everything from start to finish, she knew she couldn't. She couldn't betray Lena's trust like that. Not to mention Kelly was taking Alex out for her birthday just the two of them before meeting Kara and James at the restaurant later, so she wasn't even home.

No, Kara would have to deal with this on her own.

But her apartment was too empty, too still compared to how it had been the previous night and that morning—with Lena around to light up every room she walked into. Every time Kara looked up, she kept wishing to see Lena sitting there next to her on the couch.

She tried to watch Netflix, but no show seemed right, and Hulu didn't have much better options. Eventually she just put on an unsolved mysteries show she'd started and never finished, but even the creepy tale of the Axeman Murderer of New Orleans did little to keep her mind from wandering to the youngest Luthor.

Every time she blinked, she saw flashes of emerald eyes, pale skin, that cocky little eyebrow quirk she wasn't even sure Lena was aware she did. It was so stupid, the fact that they'd only spent twelve hours of real time together, yet she was sitting there missing Lena as if they'd known each other for years and had been apart for months rather than a few hours.

She shouldn't have been feeling so much heartache over someone she barely knew. And she tried to tell herself it was all just her own stupidity. That's she'd done the thing she criticized civilians over time and time again—built up an idea of a celebrity in her head, and when she was met with the real thing, she fell in faux-love with her.

Of course, she didn't know Lena. But she'd watched most of her body of work, seen interviews, and had manufactured an idea of who she was in her head. That idea was then projected onto the real Lena, and that was why Kara felt a weird familiarity with her. She'd daydreamed about something like that night happening before. That was why when it presented itself, she gave in so easily.

Kara wasn't the type of person to just jump into bed with someone. She never had been. Sex without feelings was never appealing to her, as the few times she'd tried she'd gotten so little out of it she knew there was no point in trying ever again if a physical and emotional attraction wasn't present. Therefore, before Lena it had been—_fuck,_ she couldn't even remember how long it had actually been.

It was no wonder this didn't happen more often since she was sitting there obsessing over the first woman to pay attention to her in way too damn long. But this wasn't like the other women. This wasn't just some girl who was nice to her on set a couple of times or a pretty girl that smiled at her from across the café and made her heart skip a beat.

This was Lena, who was once a fantasy, then became a reality. Lena who dug her nails into her back so hard as she came a second time around Kara's fingers that the blonde now had tiny half-moon marks across her skin. Lena who had screamed Kara's name so loudly she was certain the neighbors had heard. Lena whose scent was still in her sheets when she tried to lie down, and who she'd tried to take a nap to forget.

Lena, Lena, Lena…

Being in her bed only made it worse because she thought of all the things that had happened in it the night before, and suddenly it felt too cold and lonely and the sheets smelled too much of a dark-haired woman who was entirely too far away—because anywhere that wasn't next to her wasn't close enough.

So, she got back up and immediately pulled the sheets from the bed, comforter and all. She bundled them up and shoved them in the laundry basket, then brought the load to the laundry room outside.

Her house was built up, but the laundry room was ground-level. It didn't appear to have originally been part of the house, instead added like an after-thought. The structure itself wasn't insulated, the walls didn't have drywall, the floor was concrete, and the roof was tin rather than shingles like the rest of the house. It wasn't very big, but there was enough room for Kara to fit her washer and dryer, a small shelf with cleaning supplies, and a blue BMX bike.

As she put her clothes to wash, she glanced over at the bike, wishing it wasn't so hot out. She would have liked to have gone for a ride just to do something, maybe even clear her head. But the heat index was pushing a hundred, and she didn't want to spend more time outside in the sun than she needed to—she did that enough during the week at work. It was a shame, too. The bike had hardly been used since she'd purchased it.

She used to live with her sister until Alex finally moved in with Kelly, and Kara had moved from the two bedroom they shared to a somewhat smaller, more moderately priced house in a different part of the city. Her new house was in a safer neighborhood, close to a park, and had outside storage her last home hadn't.

When she moved into her house in April the weather had been nice, and she'd bought a bike one afternoon on a whim just because she felt like going for a ride. But she'd gotten to ride it all of once before her next show started, and then she was busy until the nice, spring weather was gone, and the summer heat started to edge back in. She hadn't touched it since. And unfortunately, that day would not be the day that changed. Even being in the unairconditioned laundry room for less than a minute was too hot and causing a layer of sweat to appear on her skin.

And as she replaced the laundry detergent back onto the shelf and gazed among the other cleaners, she knew the perfect way to occupy her day until it was time to go dinner. Nia would have been proud because she was going to clean until her house was spotless, and then maybe—hopefully—her mind would be, too.

* * *

By the time Kara pulled into the Merlin's parking lot she'd successfully cleaned her entire house, made her bed, washed and folded all her laundry, and even caught up on episodes of a trashy reality show she liked and had been unable to watch during the week. Yet Lena was still present in the forefront of her mind, and she was thankful to finally be around other people so she would be forced to focus on the conversation at hand instead of the brunette starlet who hijacked her every thought.

She went inside, gift tucked under her arm, and immediately saw James already sitting at a table off to the side. Even sitting, James was larger than every other person in the room. He was well over six feet, with broad shoulders, and his booming voice seemed to command attention.

"'Sup, bud?" she said as she got to the table, dropping the gift on the side of the chair she intended to take.

"Hey," James said with a smile, standing from his chair to give her a hug. When they pulled away, he regarded her for a second. "You look much more rested than the last time I saw you."

"Oh, I am," Kara said as they both took their seats. She let out a sigh and ran a hand through her hair. "I don't know where the hell you found Sam, but she's fucking amazing, and I owe you a drink." She picked up the drink menu from the table and handed it to him. "You want a drink? Here. Seriously."

James laughed and took the menu from her. "You know, I will take you up on that." He smirked as he flipped the menu over to look at the beers they had on tap at the bar. James was a big beer guy. For Christmas Kara had gotten him a box with nine different beers from countries across the globe. He'd loved it and saved a couple of the bottles he thought were interesting. "I noticed you guys were more on it yesterday."

"Dude, it's amazing the difference a decent assistant can make," Kara said, shaking her head. "Sam showed up, we got set up in under an hour while Nia cleaned the trailer, and then just coasted for the rest of the day. It was the first day that I felt like I actually succeeded on this show."

"So being key's a little rougher than expected?" James asked with raised eyebrows.

James knew her plight better than anyone. After all, before she'd been Clark's right-hand that had been James. He'd once been in Kara's shoes. He was the whole reason she was where she was that day. Before James got her on with Clark she'd been lost and simply dreaming of working in film. It was all about who you knew, and she didn't know many people.

She'd been really lucky when Alex started dating Kelly, thus introducing her to James. She was still working at the coffee shop at the time, hating every second of it. It had been James who told her that if she wanted to work in film, she needed to get out of the coffee shop and start hustling to get jobs— that if she did, he would pass her name along.

And not long after she quit, she was on set with him for a day that Clark had to take off. It was his first time keying for Clark in the two years he'd worked with him, and it was only for one day. But James was nervous and didn't care for the experience. Kara believed that was the turning point for him, when he finally decided he'd had enough of crafty and wanted to switch over to electric. The next show was James's last with Clark, and then Kara took over.

"I knew it was going to be _rough_. I'd keyed a little bit before," Kara said, opening the food menu in front of her so she could start looking it over. "I just didn't expect it to be that bad, and it didn't have to be. Once I got rid of Siobhan the majority of my problems magically vanished."

"Yeah, she sucked," James agreed with a frown. "I was surprised when you hired her, but I didn't want to say anything." He looked to her sympathetically. "You're not the first person to fire her, you know? She gets fired a lot."

Kara's eyes widened, and she fixed him with a hard look. "_Why_ the fuck wouldn't you have said anything about that?"

"I haven't seen you in a while," James explained. "I didn't know you hired her until I saw her on set. By then it was too late."

"Fair," Kara said, though she still frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. James was right. He'd been working a show and then jumped right into prep for _Puppy Love_, so it had been well over a month since the last time they'd hung out. And though they'd become close friends over the years, they didn't text each other with every single life update when they went stretches without seeing each other.

"But you have Sam now," James said. "She's sticking around for the rest of the show, right?"

"Yes." She nodded enthusiastically. "I snatched her up, and I'm actually excited for the rest of this show going forward." She smiled at that, then she remembered that she would also be seeing Lena every day and not be able to touch her, and the smile faded.

But James didn't notice because at that moment the waitress came up to take their drink orders, James ordering a lager and Kara just a Sprite. She also ordered Alex a Blue Moon for when she got there and an Appletini for Kelly because she was feeling generous.

Alex and Kelly showed up as the drinks arrived at the table, and Alex lit up as Kara handed her the gift. After they took their seats, she began to unwrap it, laughing when it was revealed that Kara had gotten her the Operation board game.

"I love it," her sister said with a bright smile.

When they were kids Alex wanted to be a doctor. Operation was her favorite game, and she played it obsessively, forcing Kara to join in. She thought it was a valuable training tool to gain steady hands if she wanted to be a surgeon. She'd make Kara time her with a stopwatch to see how quickly she could get the pieces out without hitting the sides, making her start over if she messed up. Eventually she could get all the pieces out perfectly in under two minutes, and then once she mastered it, she'd gotten bored.

But last Christmas when they'd been home for the holiday Alex had gotten drunk and wanted to play, but when they dug the game out of the closet they were disheartened to find out that not only were pieces now mysteriously missing, but the batteries had corroded in the back and effectively ruined the entire game. She'd already gotten Alex a gift that year, so she stowed the idea away, and she was glad she had.

"I figured maybe you could bring it to school, too, for your students," Kara said.

Though Alex had decided not to become a doctor somewhere along the way, she still loved science and biology. So she decided to become a teacher instead, and she taught Biology as National City High.

"I'm not bringing this to school," Alex said, holding the box close to her chest protectively. "Those little assholes will lose the pieces for sure." She nodded her head to her girlfriend seated next to her. "Kelly and I'll play."

"Kelly hates Operation," James said, taking a sip of his beer.

"No, I hate playing Operation with _you_," Kelly said, narrowing her eyes at her brother. "You used to get mad when you lost and made me keep playing over and over again until I just let you win so I could go do something else."

"That's not how I remember it at all," James said, crossing his arms over his chest. "You never _let_ me win."

"Sure I didn't," Kelly said casually, picking up her Appletini and taking a sip, staring at James over the rim.

"Alex never let me win. Not once," Kara said, glaring at her own sibling. "She's extremely competitive and obnoxiously good at everything. I never stood a chance."

"I was building your character," Alex said as she placed the game on the ground next to her feet. "You should be thanking me."

"Uh huh," Kara deadpanned. She looked over her shoulder. "Where is the waitress so we can order? I can't stand you."

"I love you," Alex cooed, reaching across the table and grabbing Kara's hand. She batted her eyelashes and smiled cheekily.

Kara's resolve crumbled, and she grinned back. "I love you, too, even if you're kind of a bitch sometimes."

"You can't call her a bitch on her birthday," James pointed out.

"I do what I want," Kara shot back.

* * *

Thankfully Kara was able to make it through dinner without thinking of Lena much. It was nice to spend time with some of her favorite people, a much-needed escape from the bullshit that had been going on at work and in her personal life.

On Sunday she slept in, then went to the store and got a couple of things they needed for the next day. Thankfully she'd been able to catch up on most of her paperwork on Friday, so all she needed to do was enter in a couple of receipts and tape up a few more. Then she had the rest of the day to herself.

The problem was she didn't know what to do, so instead of doing anything productive she just played The Sims for seven hours. The way she saw it, playing The Sims was therapy—self-care. Mostly because she genuinely believed it helped with her anxiety, which was mostly based on her obsessive need to feel in control. And, unfortunately, much of her life was out of her control at the moment.

Sure, she was the boss of her department, but that didn't mean anything to the film as a whole. Everything else about the job was completely at the mercy of production. If the day was getting late and she wanted to go home, that didn't matter. They were going to film until they were done. It was chaotic and stressful. Sometimes she missed the days when she would know her schedule weeks in advance and be able to have the peace of mind that her shift had designated hours so that she knew when she would go in and leave.

In film that was never certain. Things changed on a dime, and she never knew how long of a day she was walking into. It was enough to stress anyone out, especially someone who already struggled to keep their anxiety in check. And since she had no time to go to therapy, she figured The Sims was the next best thing.

So she played that until she knew she had to go to bed in order to not be a zombie the next day, and when she lay down her mind went straight back to Lena until her medicine kicked in and pulled her under.

Then the next morning she hit snooze on her alarm several times and got up so late that she didn't have time to think of Lena as she rushed out the door and started making her way across the city to the location. They were filming at a pet shop in a shopping center near the river, and thankfully production had reserved much of the parking lot for working trucks, so she was able to get a sweet spot not far from the entrance.

There were a few shots outside to start, so the girls got out the pop-up tent for shade and started setting up right outside of the trailer since most of crew was around them at their trucks anyway. It was by-far the easiest setup they'd done thus far, and after only a half hour Kara sent Nia to the store for more supplies because everything was perfect and beautiful.

And the basecamp and her ice trailer were in the same location, so she didn't have to drive away to stock their coolers or grab ice for hers. She just walked over and stocked them while Sam kept making coffee on set, and then she was back not even five minutes later.

Then they went in the trailer to enjoy the air conditioning and decided to start prep on the first pass-around since they were so far ahead. It wasn't anything special—just a tray with salami, cheeses, and crackers and a second tray of chopped veggies and hummus. Kara wanted to use some of the stuff they already had on-hand to save some money as they were already insanely over budget because of drinks and ice (just as she'd predicted would happen).

Sam got out some foil pans, two cutting boards, and knives while Kara went in a cooler outside and found everything they needed. As Sam washed the veggies in the sink, Kara connected her phone to the radio and started music, always enjoying her work more if she had music in the background. She hummed a few bars to a song by The Script as they set to work.

"So, are you excited for your baby's first holidays, like Halloween and Christmas?" Kara asked conversationally as she cut into a hunk of cheese, glad there were no immature crew members around to joke about her "cutting cheese."

"Well, she was born right before Christmas, so this will be her second one," Sam said, pulling at the gloves on her hands before chopping the celery. "But Halloween, _yes_. I am so excited."

"Do you have costumes picked out yet?" Kara asked with a smile. Halloween was her favorite holiday, and she had her costume picked out months in advance usually.

Sam looked at her, smiling as well. "I'm really glad you asked that," she said. "Yes, I do. I'm going to be Dorothy, and she's going to be Toto."

Kara paused, knife hovering above the block of gouda. "From _The Wizard of Oz_?"

"Yeah."

"That's Kara's favorite movie," came a voice from the door of the trailer.

Kara whipped around to see Lena standing in the doorway, her face going red at Lena appearing without warning. She suddenly felt self-conscious and put down the knife and took her gloves off before pulling at her sleeveless t-shirt awkwardly.

"Lena, hey," she said, her voice a slight octave higher than normal. "Need something?"

"No," Lena said, shaking her head as she stepped into the trailer. "I just hadn't seen inside this thing yet and was interested. Thought I'd come check it out." She smiled apprehensively, glancing briefly over the exposed muscles of Kara's arms before turning her attention to the trailer's features. "It's…nice."

"Uh, I think _you're_ being nice," Kara said, gazing around the trailer herself with a frown.

It admittedly wasn't in the best condition. Parts of it were falling apart and supporting beams bad been added instead of replacing the broken, rotting pieces. The floor was slanting, and the back of the trailer was completely sinking, and Kara was honestly waiting for the day she stepped back there and fell through. It was janky and old, but it mostly got the job done despite its faults.

"No, I'm not." Lena bit her lip to hold back a laugh. "It's… Uh… Charming."

"Not the word I would use, but thank you for saying so," Kara said as she leaned against the counter. She nodded her head towards Sam. "We were just talking about Halloween. Do you have a costume planned yet?"

Lena shuffled awkwardly from one foot to the next. "Not really. I don't dress up and go out or do anything," she admitted. "I'm usually working, and if I'm not I just stay home and watch horror movies by myself." She gave a self-depreciating laugh. "Not very exciting."

"What about you, Kara?" Sam asked, placing the celery she'd chopped in one of the foil pans they'd set out. "Do you know what you're gonna be?"

Kara gave a wide smile. "Supergirl. Already got my costume."

Sam rolled her eyes. "You're such a loser."

"I think it's great," Lena said. "After all, it's your nickname."

"Your _nickname _is Supergirl?" Sam asked, pausing in her prep work to smirk at Kara. "Did you give yourself that nickname?"

"Other people on set started calling me that because I'm strong, Sam," Kara shot back playfully and held her arms up and flexed her muscles. "See, look."

Sam merely glanced at Kara's biceps and rolled her eyes as she moved onto chopping up peppers. Lena, on the other hand, couldn't take her eyes off the toned, taught muscles until Kara stopped flexing. Then she was caught staring by the blonde, and she ducked her head to hide a blush.

"Well, cool trailer," she said, scuffing the toe of her wardrobe boot against one of the black mats covering the white and black, tiled floor. "I should probably get back to set."

Kara nodded. "I'll make sure to stop by your chair. Do you like cheese?" She gestured to the block she'd abandoned the moment Lena appeared.

"Ain't no one getting cheese if you don't stop talking and finish cutting it," Sam said, jabbing her in the ribs with her elbow.

Lena laughed and playfully said, "Yeah, Kara, stop getting distracted and do your job."

Kara's face went red and she looked back and forth between the two of them. "Say the people talking to me and distracting me."

"I'm leaving," Lena said, holding up her hands as she left the trailer.

Kara watched her go, trying to keep her face neutral so Sam wouldn't see her obviously pining. But Sam flicked her on the ear, and she let out a yelp and turned to the younger woman, wide-eyed.

"Stop staring after that pretty lady and chop." The brunette picked up Kara's abandoned knife and put in back in her hand.

* * *

Lena really, really, _really_ needed Kara to stop wearing sleeveless shirts. Monday Kara flexed in front of her, and then she spent the rest of the day staring at the blonde's arms longingly every time she saw her. Then Tuesday she wore another sleeveless shirt, this one an old National City University t-shirt with the sleeves cut off. And Wednesday she wore a grey Midvale High shirt of the same fashion.

Lena was on her way to crafty when she saw Kara there, carrying two cases of water stacked on top of each other. It appeared to be nearly effortless to her, yet her arm muscles were taught and obvious under the strain, and Lena actually turned herself around and went right back to her chair because she was so flustered.

She didn't think Kara was the type of person to deliberately torture her, but she wondered if Kara's new fascination with showing off her arms had anything to do with catching her staring the other day. Was Kara purposefully making it so that it was hard for Lena to _not _look at her? Because if so, it was working. And as much as she cursed the blonde for being so tempting, the more she had to actively keep herself from going to crafty for no reason other than to see Kara. It had been like that since the beginning, but now it was worse. Now she knew what she was missing.

On Thursday she made a point to not go to crafty at all. She had Jess get her coffee and a banana in the morning. Then when she saw Kara coming with a tray of food she asked Jess just to make her a little plate of whatever it was and ran to the portable toilets (or P-Mo) outside of set. She didn't even have to go. She just washed her hands and checked her email on her phone until she was sure Kara would be gone by the time she got back to her chair.

By lunch she hadn't spoken to Kara once, and since she ate in her trailer, she didn't see her at the meal, either. But lunch wasn't spectacular, and she hardly touched it. By the time a second pass-around from crafty was expected she was starving and decided to bite the bullet and face Kara if she came around with food.

But then she had a significant break between scenes and was sent back to her trailer to wait instead of staying on set and baking in the heat. They were filming at a park that day and the next, and while it was a beautiful park, the summer heat was no joke, and filming outside was awful.

She was so hungry that she was considering ordering food for Jess to go pick up since she knew by the time she got back the crafty pass would be done, and snack food from the setup wouldn't suffice. She was about to grab her phone and look up places to order from when she heard a knock at her door.

"Come in," Lena said. The door opened and instead of Jess, like Lena had expected, Kara walked in instead, closing the door behind her. Lena blinked in surprise, sitting up straighter on the couch that came with her trailer. "Oh, hey," she said dumbfoundedly.

"Hey," Kara said shyly. "I brought you a snack." She held up a plastic bag with a sandwich inside.

"Are you talking about the sandwich or yourself?" Lena asked, the question leaving her mouth before her brain had a chance to stop her, and Kara's shocked face made Lena's burn with embarrassment. "I'm sorry—That was—I shouldn't have said that."

"It's fine," Kara said quickly, then cleared her throat as she held out the sandwich for Lena to take. "You just missed our pass, and lunch was shit. Also, I haven't seen you at the setup at all, and I remembered sometimes you forget to eat, so I figured you might be hungry. So, I made you this. It's just turkey on wheat with some cheese, lettuce, and mayo. I didn't know what you like." She paused to take a breath, then gave a small laugh. "Now _I'm_ sorry. For rambling. Like always."

"Don't be," Lena said as she took the sandwich. "Thanks for this. It's really sweet." And needed because she felt her stomach growl then.

"No problem," she said, shoving her hands in her pockets as she eyed Lena carefully. "I haven't seen much of you since you came into the trailer the other day. I'm starting to think you're avoiding me."

Lena saw the subtle hurt on her face and had to look away because guilt started to rise in her chest. "No, I'm just… Busy. Trying to keep up with learning my lines and all," she lied.

But Kara nodded, seeming to accept it. "Well, if you need a drink to wind down after this week, we were talking about going out again tomorrow after work." Lena's head shot up at that, her eyes questioning, so Kara quickly added, "I made Sam pinky promise she would come this time, and I'm working on convincing Nia, so there should be more people." She shrugged. "If you wanted to grab a drink with friends."

_Friends_. The word bounced around Lena's brain as Kara stared at her expectantly for an answer. That word made her feel lower than any curse or insult she'd ever received. But she just kicked her acting skills into high gear and plastered on a smile.

"Okay, let me know what you all decide tomorrow," she said, even though she probably should have said no. Probably shouldn't have continued to play into the charade that she was capable of being Kara's friend.

But the thing was… She just couldn't, couldn't say no to Kara when she was sitting there, face-to-face with her and staring into those crystal blue eyes. And the smile she got in response to the accepted invitation was worth risking falling deeper into the vortex that was Kara Danvers.

* * *

**You are welcome for words**


	10. Stay

**Crisis is here. Enjoy some Supercorp sweetness to cope.**

* * *

Contrary to their first week, Kara wrapped up week two feeling like they'd started off doing well and only got better—as opposed to the week before when they were crashing and burning nearly every second. But that was pre-Sam, and adding the brunette to the dynamic had improved her life in ways she never could have imagined.

She enjoyed Sam a lot. They fell quickly into a comradery. Over the course of the second week Kara found herself liking Sam more and more, and Sam appeared to be warming up to her, too, because by day two she'd starting poking fun at Kara. As the week wore on, the good-natured jibes increased, and the blonde was shooting them right back. Then they'd each crack a grin and get back to work.

Kara noticed that any time she mentioned she was going to check on something Sam immediately hopped up and came with her. She hoped that meant Sam liked her, but she was never quite certain. She was incredibly insecure, always paranoid people were nice to her face and secretly hated her behind her back. Adolescent bullying was to thank for that, and even though she was in her late twenties, she still found the lasting emotional trauma hard to shake.

But by the end of Friday, Sam was bouncing with excitement, asking where they were going for drinks, and it made Kara's heart warm that Sam seemed to enjoy her company enough to want to do something outside of work. She'd even gotten Nia to begrudgingly agree to join, even if she'd had to bribe her with buying her first drink—Nia was a homebody and an elder in a young person's body. She liked to be in bed before midnight, and they'd wrapped around ten, so by the time they got to the bar it would most likely be close to that time.

Kara picked a different bar this time, this one closer to Nia's house in an attempt to help persuade her friend to come out. It worked, because as they left set, Nia promised she would meet them there. And when Kara texted Lena to say they'd all be meeting at Diggle's Tavern and Lena said she'd see her there, her heart soared so high that she had to remind herself to keep her cool.

But she was nervous and jittery the whole way home, and her shower did little to calm her. She didn't feel better until she took a few hits from her pipe, and by the time it was done she felt she could finally face the night.

She applied a little makeup just because she knew Lena would be there and glanced over herself in the full-length mirror on the back of her closet door. Her hair hung over her shoulders, still damp from her shower but drying into their usual, loose curls. She'd worn a grey _Jaws_ tank top to show off her arms, because it seemed to her that Lena liked to look at them. And her jean shorts allowed her to show off the strong leg muscles she'd built after walking an average of at least ten miles a day on set over the past few years. To finish off the look she'd thrown on her pair of black, tattered Converse.

Then she was off, heading eastward to the bar. She'd asked Lena if she needed a ride, but unfortunately the brunette had turned her down. Kara tried not to let that kill her mood, not to read too much into the fact that Lena refused to spend time in a car, alone with her. But by the time she got to the bar she had to hit her vape pen before heading inside just to calm her overwhelming nerves.

Nia was sitting at the bar, her hair also wet, but now down as opposed to her usual ponytail for work. Gone also were the long pants and long-sleeve shirts she always worse onset. Instead she was wearing a cute, yellow sundress and sandals. Even though she'd dressed up, though, her face was free of makeup, yet Nia had a natural beauty without it.

They got their drinks and went to sit at one of the tables in the back. There were a few other patrons in the bar, but they were all sitting at the actual bar at the front, so the back was quieter and offered them opportunity to talk.

"Well, cheers to surviving the first two weeks," Kara said, holding up her usual vodka-Sprite to tap against Nia's rum and Coke.

"Amen to that," Nia said, returning the cheers before sipping her drink. "Dude, I was skeptical of Sam at first, but I gotta say—she's pretty great."

"Isn't she?" Kara asked, sipping her drink as well, noticing it was significantly less strong than the one Ray had made her last week. "I never have to worry about anything because I know if you or I haven't done something, she has. And if I ask her to do something, she actually does it."

"She has a lot of experience," Nia said. "I asked her what she worked on, and it's a lot. But she didn't list to me her entire work history constantly as if to prove herself like that psycho Siobhan."

"No, Sam lets her work speak for herself," Kara agreed, nodding her head.

Nia opened her mouth to say something else but closed it as her eyes went wide at something she saw over Kara's shoulder. "Shit, _cast_ is here?"

Kara's pulse raced as she turned to see Lena and Jess standing in the doorway, looking around the bar. Her heart lifted a little at the sight of Jess. It made sense for Lena to turn down a ride from her if Jess was with her, since it was the woman's job to drive Lena around.

She raised her hand to get their attention, and Lena waved when she spotted them. Jess and Lena exchanged a few words before Lena headed to the bar and Jess came over to the table.

"Hey, guys," Jess said, dropping into a chair next to Nia, thankfully leaving the one next to Kara open.

"Hey," Kara said in response, giving the assistant a smile. "Decided to skip drinks with the AD staff this time? I heard them talking about going to Legend's again." It wasn't hard to hear. She'd been standing right next to Mike and Oliver when they were talking about it. And they certainly didn't make any indication that she was invited.

"Yeah, last week wasn't all that fun," Jess said, frowning slightly. "Mike and Oliver drank a lot of beer and then got into a loud discussion of which _Terminator_ movie was better, the first or second." She shrugged and shook her head. "I don't have an opinion on that matter, and even if I did, it didn't matter because they never let anyone else get a word in."

"Sounds about right," Kara said as she took a sip of her drink, irritated just at the mention of Oliver and Mike. While the week had gone better, it was still obvious that they weren't her biggest fans, and they made it very clear every time they talked down to her.

"They're such assholes," Nia chimed in. "Especially that little twerp Mike. I want to wring his neck."

"Wait until after the wrap party at least," Kara joked as Lena walked up with two drinks in hand. Kara paused to smile up at the brunette. "You made it."

"I did," Lena said, glancing down at the only empty chair at the table. It just happened to be on the side of Kara. She bit her lip as she sat, placing the drink she'd bought for Jess in front of her assistant.

Not long after that Sam showed up, and Lena bubbled with jealousy when Kara lit up at her arrival. She took a big gulp of her Jameson-Diet Coke when they hugged, leaving a bitterness behind on her tongue.

"Sam, go get whatever you want," Kara said, pointing to the bar. "Put it on my tab."

Sam's eyebrows shot up. "Seriously?"

"Yes." Kara nodded enthusiastically. "I owe you one."

"Okay," Sam said with a smile, dropping her purse on the table. "Be right back."

When she walked away Kara scooted her chair slightly closer to Lena's and grabbed an empty chair from one of the other tables and placed it on the other side of her for when Sam got back. Lena wasn't thrilled that Kara seemed enthusiastic to have Sam sit near her, but she was thankful she hadn't put the other chair _between_ them at least. She was still sitting on Kara's other side, and she noticed that her chair was slightly closer to Lena's than it was to Sam's. That observation caused her to give a half-smile before downing the rest of her drink.

"I need another," Lena announced, holding up the empty glass.

"We just got here," Jess said, eyeing Lena in amazement.

"I'm a Luthor," Lena said with a shrug. "We're known for being good at approximately two things—acting and drinking."

"I think there's one other thing you're good at," Kara muttered, and when all eyes went to her, Lena's the widest of the bunch, Kara's face went red. She tried her best to reach into the depths of her suddenly frazzled mind and think of something other than what she'd actually meant. "Uh… Fencing, right? Didn't you fence as a kid?"

Lena let out a breath and nodded. "Until my teenage years, when my mother decided it was a waste of time and that I should have been focusing on my career instead." She shrugged, frowning down at the table. "Because who needs a sport they genuinely enjoy, with teammates who were friends when they're fifteen? Much better to guest star on some dumb teen drama show for what was formerly ABC Family." Then all eyes were off Kara and on her, everyone looking at her with a mix of pity and concern. "Who wants a shot?" she offered, standing up to avoid the awkwardness she'd brought upon herself. "I'm getting us all shots."

And before anyone could disagree, she was walking towards the bar. Sam was getting a drink handed to her, and she had just started to turn to walk away when Lena approached.

"Oh, hey," Sam said, smiling at her. "It's Lena, right?"

"Yeah," Lena said, gazing over Sam momentarily. She had to admit, she was gorgeous. Her tan skin gave a healthy glow, and her long legs were muscly like Kara's. And the white tank top she was wearing showed she was intimidatingly slim. If she wasn't already infatuated with Kara or intimidated by Sam, she might have even had a crush on her herself. "I'm getting shots for everyone, if you want one," she said, because she'd have felt bad if she offered to everyone else and not Sam, despite the jealousy.

"Sure," Sam said, not even bothering to ask what kind of shot. "Want me to help you carry them?"

Lena was taken aback at the woman's jump to help, but then she remembered that Sam was crafty, so it was probably second nature to her at that point. "Okay," she found herself saying.

She ordered five shots of vodka, carrying three herself, and Sam the other two along with her drink. When she brought them back to the table, though, not everyone looked enthusiastic. Nia picked up one the one Lena had set in front of her.

"Vodka? I'll pass," Nia said, pushing the shot to the center of the table. "I'm good with this." She held up the beer Kara had purchased for her for emphasis and took a sip.

"Me too," Jess said, pushing the shot away as well. "I really only should have one if I'm driving."

"Y'all are lame," Sam said, picking up her shot. "I'm game." She turned to the blonde. "What about you, Kara?"

Kara hesitated, feeling Lena's eyes on her along with Sam's. She hadn't planned on taking a shot, but now that one was in front of her it was too tempting not to. "I'll have one and finish this drink, but that's it for me," she said, picking up her drink again along with a shot. "I have to drive home."

"What should we toast to?" Sam asked, holding out the tiny glass.

Kara smiled. "You know what?" She touched the rim to Sam's. "To Sam, for coming aboard and being genuinely awesome."

Lena fought the urge to frown, placing on a fake smile instead as she joined in the toast. "To Sam, then," she said, trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice.

They did their shots, Kara and Sam using their mixed drinks as chasers. Lena hadn't thought to get one—actually didn't need one. She slammed the vodka expertly and set the empty glass on the table upside down. Then she looked at the two remaining shots, taking a breath.

"I guess I have to finish these myself so they won't go to waste," Lena said, picking up one of them. "Unless anyone else wants one."

"Sure, why the fuck not?" Sam said, picking up the last.

"Don't you have to drive?" Kara asked, slight worry in her voice.

Lena bristled slightly at this. Kara seemed so concerned about Sam making it home safely, but she didn't even bat an eyelash when it came to her. Then again, she and Jess had come together so it was logical she assumed that they would leave together.

"I'll be fine, _Mom_," Sam said sarcastically. She rolled her eyes at the blonde before turning to Lena, holding out her shot for another toast. "To making movies?"

Lena almost laughed, remembering then how young Sam was. People in their early twenties seemed to sometimes think each shot had to be toasted to something. She'd been like that when she first started drinking. Then she got bored of it and just wanted to drink.

"To making movies," Lena agreed, tapping the glass to Sam's.

* * *

Nia ended up leaving first, right after she'd finished the one drink she'd agreed to. Not long after that Jess was ready to go, and since she was Lena's ride, that meant the actor should have left, too. But the disappointed look on Kara's face made Lena balk, insisting she would get herself a ride home later instead. And then of course Kara offered to bring her, just like she'd hoped, and Jess headed out, seemingly satisfied that she'd left Lena in the hands of a trusted crew member.

After that it was just the two of them and Sam. Lena tried not to be jealous of the rapid-fire back and forth Sam and Kara engaged in. From what she gathered, they hadn't known each other long, but they already spoke with the type of familiarity as if they'd been friends for years. Their banter was playful, easy, and consisted of much good-natured ribbing.

Honestly, Lena hated the way they were together. Kara smiled too much, laughed too hard, and though she tried to include Lena, the brunette was still feeling like a third wheel. She realized that Kara and Sam had spent quite a lot of time together over the past week—but it had been just that, a week. Why were they suddenly so chummy, and why did it make Lena feel so threatened if Kara was nothing but a friend, like she claimed?

Why did Lena's heart ache every time Kara laughed at something Sam said? Why did every smile sent in Sam's direction instead of hers make her burn with hatred for a woman who'd done literally nothing to her? And why did she want to possessively drape her arm over the back of Kara's chair every time Sam leaned in slightly to talk to Kara in a quieter voice?

They hardly seemed to notice when she got up and went to the bar for another drink. She got a double of Jameson-Diet Coke and an extra shot on the side for good measure, taking the shot before heading back so that the other two women would never know she'd taken it. Then when she got back to the table Kara and Sam were bent over Sam's phone, and she when she glanced at it, she saw they were looking at pictures of a baby.

"She's _so _cute," Kara cooed, then held out the phone to show Lena. "Look at Sam's daughter Ruby. Isn't she just the most adorable fucking thing you've ever seen?"

Lena could argue that the person holding the phone out was, yet she didn't say this. "Precious," she said hollowly, then looked to Sam. "She looks like you."

"Kind of," Sam said, giving a small frown. "I find she looks a lot like her dad, too, though. Unfortunately."

"Fuck that guy," Kara said instantly. "She's gonna grow up to be beautiful just like you. Watch."

Lena felt her heart pang, remembering when Kara had called her beautiful. She took a long swallow of her drink to wash down the bile rising in her throat at the unexpected heartache she suddenly felt.

Sam let out a snort. "Thanks, bitch."

Then Lena was angry that Sam would call Kara a bitch, soon after confused to see that Kara was smiling. Why would anyone be smiling after being insulted?

"I love you, bitch," Kara said, raising her eyebrows.

Sam broke into a grin. "I ain't gonna never stop loving you."

And then together they said loudly, in deep voices, "_Bitch_."

They both laughed and Lena simply stared at them, completely lost. Her face burned, realizing it was some kind of joke she wasn't in on, and she chugged half of her drink right then and there just to get over the awkwardness. When the two were done laughing, Kara looked to Lena, actual tears in her eyes from laughing so hard.

"You know that Vine, right?" Kara asked when Lena just stared at her blankly.

"Uh, no," Lena admitted.

"Oh my god, hang on," Kara said immediately, reaching into her pocket and pulling out her phone. She searched for something quickly, then held out her phone.

The video she showed Lena was really simple, just a guy barely playing a guitar and saying the words that Sam and Kara had just quoted to each other. Kara had said it was a Vine, but from the little Lena knew about it, she knew the app didn't exist anymore. This video was only six seconds long, on YouTube, and had over six million views. Yet this was the first time she was seeing it. It was slightly amusing, and maybe she'd have found it funny had she not been so upset over the fact that it was something Kara and Sam shared. Jealousy outweighed humor.

"Funny," she said blandly, taking another sip of her drink casually.

"I guess it's funnier if you see the video first," Kara said with a small smile, locking her phone and putting it back in her pocket.

"It's fucking hilarious," Sam said, picking up her own phone off the table where Kara had placed it. "But anyway… I'm gonna head out. Bar's about to close, and I gotta get some sleep before my kid wakes me up at sunrise." She frowned with a deep sigh. "Or before."

Sam's mom took care of Ruby during the week while Sam was working, and since they lived together, Sam said it was easy for her to go out. But that didn't mean she expected her mom to watch her kid while she slept in because of going out drinking.

"Yeah, we should probably close out our tabs and get out of here, too," Kara said, then turned to Lena. "Ready?"

Lena still had a couple of sips left in her glass, so she downed it in one go and nodded when she was done. "Let's go."

Sam walked with them to the bar, smiling and waving as she left them to close their respective tabs. Lena barely even glanced at how much she spent, just signed the slip and handed it back. She knew it was a lot by normal people standards—people who didn't have millions just sitting in the bank gathering dust—but to her spending over a hundred dollars in a bar was so far from concerning it was almost laughable.

Kara glanced at the slip as she handed it back, though, and her eyes went wide at the sum. But she didn't say anything about it as they left the bar and walked to Kara's waiting Jeep around the corner. The lights flashed when she unlocked it, then she was opening Lena's passenger door for her to slip inside.

"Such a gentlewoman," Lena commented as she got into the car.

Kara just gave a weak smile and closed the door before running around to the driver's side and hopping in. Then she hooked her phone up to the aux chord and started playing music. Lena recognized the melody and words from the radio, and she believed the artist was called Lauv.

The blonde set up her GPS and put her phone in a mount attached to the windshield of her car. Lena thought it was strange Kara would need a GPS to get to her own house, but she didn't comment on it as they pulled away from the curb. Then they were quiet for a few minutes, just listening to the music as Kara drove them onto the interstate.

When they started nearing the exit Lena always took to get home, Kara turned on her blinker and started to merge to take the exit.

"What are you doing?" Lena asked. "You live on the other side of the city."

Kara glanced at her briefly. "I thought I was bringing you home?"

"You are, but—" Lena gulped, suddenly feeling all the drinks she'd had as the bright lights along the interstate swam in her vision, "I thought we were going to _your _home."

Kara's grip on the steering wheel tightened ever so slightly. "Oh."

The brunette's heart sank when Kara didn't say anything else, and she was about to tell Kara to just forget it. But then Kara turned off her blinker, and instead of taking the exit for Lena's place, she sped right past it. After that Lena kept stealing glances at Kara, smiling in the dark of the car to herself.

When they got to Kara's the first thing the blonde did was got to the kitchen and get them a couple of bottles of water out of the fridge. Lena took it, even though she didn't want it, just to be polite. She sat on the couch and tried not to frown when Kara sat herself as far as possible on the other side.

But a frown did come when Kara announced, "I'll sleep here tonight," and patted the couch for emphasis.

Lena sighed and placed her unopened bottle of water on the coffee table. She scooted along the couch so that she was closer to Kara, so their thighs were touching. She placed a hand on Kara's knee, just like she'd done a week before, and looked at her pointedly.

"I'd rather you not," she said, her voice slightly deeper.

Kara took in a breath. "Lena…"

"Kara," Lena drawled, raising her eyebrows. She moved her hand from Kara's knee to her bicep, wrapping her fingers around it and digging in her nails slightly as she leaned closer to the other woman's face slowly. "You think I don't know what you're doing with these sleeveless shirts? Showing up at my trailer with a snack while looking like a snack?"

Their lips were mere centimeters apart, Lena's eyes fluttering closed as she anticipated a kiss. But when it didn't come, she opened her eyes again, and Kara had pulled her head back and was looking at her with sadness etched across her features.

"How much have you had to drink?" Kara asked in a quiet voice.

"What difference does it make?"

A sad smile tilted the corners of Kara's mouth. "It makes all the difference." She took Lena's hand from her bicep but didn't let it go. Instead she held Lena's hand in her own, gazing down at it. "When you were sober you were loud and clear about not wanting to pursue anything with me. Now that you're drunk you want me again, and even if it's only for a night, I can't in good conscience do this with you." She looked down at their hands, a tight frown on her face. "Not like this, not when I'm one hundred percent certain you wouldn't be doing this if you were sober. Even though I want to, I just can't do it. I'd feel like I was taking advantage of you."

Lena knew Kara's noble intentions should have made her feel better about the rejection, but her face still burned with embarrassment and shame. "Maybe you should just take me home, then, after all," she muttered, withdrawing her hand from Kara's.

"Lena—"

"Kara, it's fine," Lena said, standing. "I'll even get an Uber, instead, so I won't trouble you anymore."

"Lena, _no,_" Kara said quickly, standing as well. "I _want_ you to stay, I just—" She paused to sigh and run an agitated hand through her hair, "I don't want you to wake up tomorrow and realize the only reason you wanted to be with me was because you were drunk. Because it wouldn't be just that for me." She took Lena's hands again, both of them, holding them securely in her own as she gazed into worried green eyes. "Please stay. Let me feed you, drink some water, we'll get some sleep. And in the morning, we'll figure this all out." She gave a small, kind smile. "Okay?"

Lena nodded slowly, an unfamiliar warmth spreading through her chest. "Okay," she echoed.

"Thank you," the blonde said in a soft voice, hesitating for a moment before kissing Lena's forehead gently. When she pulled away, she nodded her head towards the back of the house. "Come on, let's get some food in you."

She made sure to grab Lena's bottle of water, handing it to her before leading her to the back of the house. Lena sat at the kitchen table and drank the bottle slowly as she watched Kara get a pan out from a cabinet. Then she went in the fridge and got out a package of sliced cheese and butter. Lena already knew what she intended to cook, even before Kara went into the pantry to get the bread.

"Grilled cheese, huh?" Lena asked with a smile.

Kara laughed. "Yeah. It's kind of my family's go-to food when we're drunk." She put the pan on the stove and turned on the burner. "When I was a kid and my parents would have parties, they always made grilled cheese afterwards. I never thought anything of it, just thought it was fun to have grilled cheese with my parents at midnight. Then when I got older and realized they were drunk, I just thought it was funny." She laughed a little as she took out a few slices of bread and spread butter on the back of two of them. "Eventually Alex started drinking, too, and then I did. Now every Christmas Eve we drink together and open presents, then make grilled cheeses before we go to bed. It's become one of my favorite traditions." She smirked, glancing at Lena before putting the first grilled cheese on the pan. "Besides me and Alex waiting for our parents to go to sleep so we can sneak outside and go smoke."

Lena laughed. "And then do you make more grilled cheeses because you have the munchies?" she asked, knowing her appetite instantly increased when she smoked.

"No, then we go inside and break into the cookies our mom bakes a day in advance to bring to our grandma's house the next day," Kara said with a grin, going into a drawer to grab a spatula. "Sometimes we play with our gifts. One year I got a PlayStation, and we played this superhero fighting game until our dad shuffled into the living room and told us to quiet down or go to sleep." She looked down shyly. "We may get a _little_ competitive."

"I understand sibling rivalry," Lena said, frowning melancholily. "Lillian constantly pitted Lex and I against each other, always made sure I knew how much more accomplished Lex was in his career. Yet she was the one getting better roles for him." She laughed bitterly, crinkling the water bottle in her hands. "Joke's on her, because as soon as he got big enough, he ditched her. Now she's stuck with just me."

"She's not stuck with you," Kara said as she flipped over the grilled cheese, the first side a nice golden brown. "The way I see it, she's lucky to have you. You're just as talented—if not _more_ talented—than Lex. You've built one hell of a name for yourself, even if your last name is Luthor. You could go out and get yourself a new agent tomorrow, and then your mom wouldn't know what to do with herself."

"You're right, I could," Lena agreed, actually smiling at the idea. "Her head would probably explode."

Kara laughed again as she took a plate down from a cabinet and put the finished sandwich on it. "So why don't you?" she asked, walking over and placing the plate on the table in front of Lena.

"Why don't I what?" Lena asked as she picked up the sandwich, thought she knew perfectly well what Kara meant.

"Fire your mom and get a new agent?" Kara questioned, going back over to the counter to prepare a sandwich for herself. "You could find someone who isn't as controlling, is supportive of you coming out, and helps you get better roles."

"So you agree Lillian is crap at picking out my parts?" Lena asked with a quirked eyebrow before taking a bite of the grilled cheese.

"I mean—" Kara hesitated, choosing her words carefully as she placed her sandwich in the pan, "Your roles thus far haven't been _the worst_, but they could definitely be better."

Lena swallowed before asking slowly, "How much of my work have you seen?"

Kara froze, her shoulders tensing as she admitted, "Almost everything, except the really obscure stuff I can't find online." She flipped her sandwich before listing, "Like _Mad World_, _Lost Paradise_, and a pilot for some show called _West From Here_."

A happiness filled Lena's chest at Kara's statement, and she felt humbled that Kara had been interested in her so much before they'd even met that she'd watched most of her work—even looked into the smaller roles she was sure hardly anyone knew anything about.

"It's a shame _West From Here_ didn't get picked up," Lena said with a pout. "I really liked the character, and I thought the premise for the show was interesting."

"I would have loved to have seen it," Kara said, glancing at Lena over her shoulder.

"They gave us all a copy of the pilot episode on a DVD, at least," Lena commented, pausing to take a bite of her sandwich, chewing and swallowing before offering, "If you want to watch it sometime, I'm sure I can find it in my penthouse somewhere."

The blonde turned fully to look at her then, wide-eyed. "Really?"

Lena nodded. "Yeah, of course."

"That would be amazing," Kara gushed, her face slightly awed. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Lena said with a small smile as Kara went back to cooking.

She was pretty sure she also had copies of the two movies Kara had mentioned somewhere too, but just in case she didn't, she didn't say anything. She would wait until she was sure she had them, then surprise Kara with all three DVDs at once. But she was still drunk and didn't want to forget, so she took her phone from her pocket and wrote a reminder in her notes as Kara sat down with her own plate.

"What's Christmas like at the Luthor house?" Kara questioned as she began to eat.

"Not nearly as fun as yours, I assure you," Lena said, her features darkening. "Now that Lex and our mother aren't on speaking terms, it's just me and Lillian on Christmas day. I fly out to Metropolis Christmas morning, go over for there for lunch, we sit at opposite ends of a huge table, the wait staff she refused to let have the day off fluttering around us. Then we sit around the tree in stuffy silence until she decides to speak up, usually choosing to criticize something—my clothes, my makeup, or lack of makeup. Then she gives me a gift, most often some tiny, designer dress I can barely fit my boobs into, let alone my ass. And then I give her whatever I've come up with for that year, and she stares at it disdainfully for a few moments before putting on a fake smile and hollowly thanking me." Lena popped the last of her sandwich into her mouth, chewed and swallowed, before finishing, "Then I get on the next plane back to National City, throw the dress in the back of my closet when I get home, and drink whatever alcohol I have lying around the apartment until I fall asleep."

Kara stared at her as she chewed a particularly large bite of her own sandwich. "I'm sorry," she said honestly, feeling guilty for having a wonderful family, even though it wasn't something she should have felt at fault over. "Was it at least better when you were a kid?"

"Not really. It was always kind of the same. We were never a particularly loving family, and since I was given countless toys and clothes throughout the year as a substitute for affection, opening presents wasn't even all that exciting for me," Lena said. Not to mention the only thing she'd ever truly wanted as a child was something that couldn't be wrapped up and placed under a tree—it wasn't even possible.

"Well," Kara said around another mouthful of sandwich, "I hope one day you have a family of your own and you can finally have a nice Christmas surrounded by people you love." She smiled briefly before finishing the grilled cheese, dusting the crumbs off her hands over the plate.

"Me too," Lena said, eyeing Kara for a second before ducking her head. Her food was starting to digest, and she could feel the alcohol losing some of its effects in the process.

* * *

Kara gave her a t-shirt and a pair of pajama pants to change into while the blonde cleaned up the kitchen. When she went into the bathroom to change, she noticed right away that the red toothbrush she'd used the weekend before was in the cup on the counter—right where she'd left it, next to Kara's blue one. She didn't know why Kara would have kept it, why she wouldn't have thrown it away if they'd agreed last time that they'd never sleep together again. But the sight of it made her heart start thumping frantically in her chest, and she had to splash water on her face to get her bearings because suddenly the world felt like it was spinning.

She used the towel hanging by the sink to dry her face, careful not to get any makeup on the it. Then she started the shower, because Kara had insisted she take one, that she would feel better after, and she had to admit that the woman was probably right. She'd simply changed before heading to the bar, and she could feel the layer of sweat on her skin as she shed her clothes and waited for the shower to warm.

Towels were found in a cabinet built into the wall, and Lena dropped one on the bathmat before climbing in when the water was warm enough to her liking. Afterwards she felt increasingly sober yet being fresh and clean from the shower was refreshing. Once she'd towel-dried her hair enough she slipped into the clothes Kara had given her—a fresh pair of underwear (these not boxer briefs, but still not the lacy garments she was used to), an old t-shirt advertising a band called Parachute on the front, and red and black checkered pajama pants.

When she emerged from the bathroom, teeth brushed, she saw that Kara had changed into a plain, grey v-neck shirt and black, cotton shorts. She smiled when she saw Lena standing there, hair damp and wetting the fabric of the light blue t-shirt. It sent her heart fluttering, the sight of the brunette in her clothes. She bit her lip and tried to shove down those familiar emotions, announcing she was going to brush her teeth.

Lena settled herself between the sheets of Kara's bed, enjoying the lingering smell of Kara that washed over her. She hadn't realized how much she missed it until she was surrounded by it again, and she buried her face in a pillow to breathe the scent in deeply, as if to memorize it. She didn't pick her head up again until she heard the bathroom door open, and a moment later Kara was back, standing in the doorway to her bedroom.

"Do you want me to sleep in here with you, or would you prefer I sleep on the couch?" Kara asked tentatively, fidgeting in the doorway, unsure of whether or not she should cross the threshold.

Lena stared at her for a moment in amazement. This woman had taken her to her house, even though she'd never originally planned to. She'd fed her, clothed her, and gave her a bed to sleep in. All after Lena had come onto her—only to be shot down, but for a noble reason. Yet she was still standing there asking Lena's permission to sleep in her _own _bed. Lena wasn't sure what planet Kara was from, but she was almost certain it wasn't Earth, because there was no way anyone could be _that_ nice and actually be human.

It was almost like Kara was a figment of her imagination, like she'd dreamed up the perfect woman and Kara appeared. Yet there she was, standing before in—flesh and blood, and oh so real.

"I'd like for you to sleep in here with me," Lena said in a small voice.

Kara nodded. "Okay. I'll be right back."

She disappeared into the hallway again, and Lena was curious where she was going for a moment until she heard Kara rummaging around in the kitchen. When the blonde returned, she had two new bottles of water and handed one to Lena as she crawled into bed next to her. Lena gratefully took it, unscrewing the cap and taking a sip as Kara went into the drawer in her nightstand and took out two pill bottles.

Lena tried not to appear too interested as Kara took a pill from each, tossing them into her mouth before taking a sip of water and downing them, then putting the water on the nightstand and the pill bottles back in the drawer. When she turned back to Lena, though, she caught a curious glance.

"My anxiety medicine," Kara explained, jutting her thumb towards the drawer.

"You don't have to explain it," Lena said quickly. "I just didn't see you take anything last time, so I was curious."

"Last time I waited until you were in the bathroom to take it," Kara said with a shrug. "I'm not ashamed that I take it, I just don't really like to advertise it right away. Most people don't get it, think I must be really messed up if I'm medicated." She shook her head, letting out a deep sigh. "The irony is that I'm _not_ messed up because I am medicated. And in therapy."

Lena was taken aback that Kara was admitting this to her, as on her side of the industry people taking medication and going to any kind of mental health treatment was usually treated with a hush-hush attitude. But Kara spoke about it so casually, it was if she was discussing her dentist rather than a mental health professional.

"Does it help?" the brunette questioned, glancing sideways at Kara again. "The therapy, I mean."

"Yeah," Kara said, nodding. "I think I've benefited immensely from it. If I look at where I was when I first started versus where I am now—both in my life and in regard to how I manage my anxiety—I have grown exponentially since then."

"Maybe I should try therapy," Lena joked, giving a dry laugh.

"You're laughing, but have you ever thought that maybe that's a good idea?" Kara asked, raising her eyebrows.

"I—What—" Lena shook her head quickly. "I can't go to therapy. I can't just go around telling someone about all my dirty laundry. Who knows what they'll say to the press?"

"Lena, you know therapy is confidential, right?"

"It's what, now?"

"Confidential." Kara laughed, the sound vibrating off the walls. "Legally they can't tell anyone anything you tell them unless you're a danger to yourself or someone else. It's against the law. If they did, they could lose their license."

Lena gasped. "Lillian _lied_ to me."

Lena had asked to go to therapy once, when she was a teenager. Lillian was threatening to send her to conversion therapy at the time, promising to tell the press she'd been on vacation at a private villa in Mexico all summer rather than the truth. Lena tried to bargain with her, pleaded to send her to regular therapy instead, as she was a minor and still needed Lillian's permission. Of course her mother refused, using her image as an excuse, claiming if the paparazzi got shots of her coming in and out of a therapist's office it would make her look bad. And that her therapist was bound to go with everything she told them to the press, and then casting directors wouldn't hire her if they thought she was crazy.

It was the time before smart phones were wildly popular, and she hadn't switched over from her blackberry yet, not quite ready to give up having a keyboard on her phone. She didn't think to look it up then. And then she never considered it again or looked into getting a therapist once she came of age, so she never had the chance to discover the invalidity of Lillian's statement.

"Yeah, that sounds like something you should unpack in therapy," Kara said, patting Lena's shoulder gently. "Seriously, it may seem weird at first, opening up about your deepest and darkest fears to a complete stranger, but that's what they're there for. To help you get past them and make those fears seem less scary."

Lena looked down at the hand on her shoulder briefly, then back to those kind, earnest blue eyes. "I'll think about it."

"Good." Kara squeezed her shoulder before letting go, dropping her hand to her lap. "Sleep on it, yeah?" she asked, reaching over to switch off the light on her bedside table.

The blonde settled herself between the sheets comfortably, her warmth radiating from her body. The bed wasn't big, but Kara still managed to allow Lena plenty of space—too much space. She didn't often share a bed with people overnight, but when she did, she liked to be allowed her own section of the bed, hating if the other person had the nerve to cross over into her territory. Cuddling was out of the question, and if they so much as breathed too much in her vicinity she was annoyed. Yet now she just wanted to feel Kara's arms around her, to be nestled into the side of her body and feel the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed.

She settled for scooting closer and taking Kara's hand, lacing their fingers together, and tucking her head into Kara's shoulder. She felt the blonde tense ever so slightly before recovering, seeming to ease into the touch as she let out a deep sigh.

"Is this okay?" Lena asked, her voice timid yet tinged with sleep.

"Perfect," Kara whispered, kissing the crown of Lena's head.

Lena smiled as her eyes closed, and she returned Kara's goodnight kiss with one of her own to the blonde's shoulder. And as she drifted off to sleep, she wasn't worried about the inevitable discussion they'd be having about why Lena was back after claiming their having sex had been a one-night thing, wasn't dreading what the conversation could possibly lead to. All she cared about was how good and solid Kara's body felt next to her own and how perfectly her head fit into the curve of her neck.

* * *

**Happy Crisis.**


	11. Something

**this would have been up sooner but I trapped a feral cat in my bathroom. Will not elaborate.**

* * *

Lena's head was dully pounding when she woke up the next morning. At first there was the usual confusion that came with waking up in a strange place, but the moment she turned over and got a whiff of Kara's shampoo on the pillow it all came flooding back to her.

She sat up slowly, her body feeling heavy and sluggish because of a mild hangover that had decided to show up and fuck up her morning. If she were a smarter drunk, she would have downed more water the night before, but of the many things she was when she was drunk, overly intelligent was not one of them.

She had no idea of the time, and Kara had dark, blackout curtains covering her window, making it impossible to know the time of day because the room was almost as dark as it had been the night before. But she didn't want to turn on the lamp and abuse her sore eyes just yet, so she rolled out of bed and stumbled through the dark room until she found the door.

When she got into the hallway she went straight to the back of the house, to the kitchen. Kara was standing over the stove again, making what appeared to be French toast. It looked and smelled delicious, but Lena's stomach was unsettled from her night of drinking, and as sweet as it was for Kara to make her breakfast, she wasn't sure she'd be able to eat anything.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty," Kara said when she noticed her in the doorway, a smile appearing instantly. Lena noticed a pair of square glasses on her face this morning, and the sight of them caused her heart to skip a beat. They suited her. "You're just in time." Kara gestured to a plate on the counter, loaded with the pieces of French toast she'd already cooked. "I was starting to think I'd have to bring you a tray to bed."

Lena smiled despite the pain in her stomach. "Not sure I'll be able to keep it down," she said, looking to Kara apologetically. "I'm not feeling so hot."

Kara frowned, placing the spatula on the counter top and abandoning the stove to walk over to Lena, concern etched on her face. "What's wrong? Your head? Stomach?"

"Both," Lena said with a small nod, wincing soon after because it caused a surge of pain to shoot through her frontal lobe. "I think I may just have some coffee… And aspirin, if you have it."

Kara nodded as well. "If you go in the drawer in my bedside table, it should be in there."

Lena hesitated for a moment. "I don't want to go through your stuff." She knew she was given permission, but it still felt like an invasion to her.

"Okay, I'll get it," Kara said with a small chuckle. "Can you make sure the French toast doesn't burn?" She jutted her thumb over her shoulder to the stove.

"Uh, sure." Lena never cooked a day in her life and once almost started a fire with the microwave, but how hard could watching a slice of bread for thirty seconds be?

But then Kara wasn't back right away like Lena expected, and she could see smoke coming up from the underneath of the bread. She had no idea how long it had been on the pan, how long it needed to cook on each side. But she didn't want to embarrass herself by burning it, so she took in a deep breath and picked up the spatula.

When she flipped it, she was pleased to see that while the first side was a little on the darker side, it wasn't burned at least. There was no reason she should have been proud of that. After all, Kara had done most of the work. She'd just flipped the thing and not completely overcooked it. But still, she was proud of herself. And when Kara finally returned to the kitchen, she was moving the toast from the pan to the plate, a content smile on her face.

"Here you go," Kara said, holding out the medicine bottle in one hand. "And." She lifted her other hand to show she was holding freshly loaded pipe and lighter. "Thought this might help, too."

Lena smirked. "You know weed's not the answer to everything, right?" she ribbed, though she took everything that was offered to her.

"It helps with nausea," Kara said with a laugh, switching off the burner under the pan. "Do you want to take the medicine with water or coffee?"

"Coffee," was Lena's instant answer.

Kara got a mug from the cabinet and filled it for Lena. Then she topped off her own coffee she'd made herself upon waking up as Lena took her aspirin with a mouthful of coffee. After Lena hit the bowl Kara had given her and went to hand it back to the blonde.

"I'm good," Kara said, refusing the pipe. "You need that more than I do."

Lena wanted to argue, but Kara turned her attention to preparing their plates of food. She added fresh blueberries and chopped bananas, powdered sugar, and maple syrup as Lena stood by watching, slowly taking puffs from the bowl in between sips of coffee. It didn't take long for the weed to hit her, and she had to admit that Kara had been right about smoking, because her stomach was already starting to feel better and she was ready to start tearing into the breakfast the blonde had prepared for them.

As soon as they sat down at the table Lena attacked her plate, not worrying about how messy and sticky it was or how many calories were in each bite. She just needed food in her immediately, and French toast had always been one of her favorites. She couldn't remember the last time she'd indulged and had something so completely unhealthy, but she didn't care as she devoured her food with a speed to match Kara's. There was only a small puddle of syrup left on each of their plates when they were done, and Lena pushed away hers with a satisfied sigh as Kara grinned at her cheekily.

"Told you the weed would help," she said, eyebrows raised.

"Okay, stoner," Lena said with a small chuckle.

"You can't call me a stoner after you've smoked my weed," Kara said, playfully narrowing her eyes at Lena. "It's a rule."

"What, like some kind of stoner rule?" Lena asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"No, it's just one of my house rules," Kara said, cracking another grin. "That I made up just now."

"Well," Lena muttered coyly, quirking an eyebrow, "I like to _break _rules."

Kara's face flushed at that, and she averted her eyes to the tabletop. "Noted." She cleared her throat, then stood abruptly. "I'll clean this up."

Lena stood as well. "Do you want some help?"

"No, it's fine," Kara said with a small smile. "I made the mess. I'll clean it up."

Lena could argue that she did make some dishes, and since they both enjoyed the meal it was her mess, too. On top of her being a guest and already feeling guilty that Kara had gone through so much trouble for her.

"Seriously, Kara, let me help you," she said, giving Kara a pointed look.

Kara froze, plates in hand, and looked at Lena. She blinked a few times, biting her lip. Something in her brain automatically wanted to turn her down again out of reflex. On set cast helping crafty do literally anything would be frowned upon, and she had to remind herself that Lena wasn't cast as the moment. She was just her… Just Lena. And Kara couldn't say no to her when she was looking at her like that.

"Okay," she breathed out.

Lena rinsed the dishes in the sink and put them to wash in the dishwasher—that much she knew how to do—while Kara put away the leftover fruit and wiped down the stove and counters. When they were done Lena went into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth.

She wanted to scream when she looked into the mirror and saw the state she was in. Her makeup was smudged around her eyes so that she looked like a raccoon, her hair was sticking up at odd angles, and either the lighting in Kara's bathroom was really harsh or she'd somehow managed to become paler than she was before.

Thankfully she was able to wash her face and get all the makeup off, but then she felt naked and vulnerable without at least a little something to enhance her appearance. Normally she wouldn't care. But normally she was at her own home, _alone. _With Kara on the other side of the door, Lena became acutely aware of every single flaw in her skin.

It also didn't help that she knew sometime after she exited the bathroom, they were expected to have a talk about… Well, she didn't know what exactly. But she knew it had to do with feelings and her wanting to sleep with Kara last night, and what that could all mean, and she was _freaking out_.

Mostly because she knew it was likely Kara would ask her questions, questions she wasn't sure she knew the answer to. This was so unlike any situation she'd been in with a previous lover. They rarely wanted to talk to her about anything, much less what she felt about them. She was always the same thing to them as they were to her—a warm body to fill a need.

She'd never wanted or needed a companion for anything else. She enjoyed her solitude and liked the fact that these women allowed her release without forcing her into a tangled web of feelings.

Yet suddenly there was this woman—this wonderful, charming woman— with eyes blue as the sky and a smile that made Lena's heart beat erratically in her chest. And objectively there was nothing extraordinary about her, Lena knew that. Yet there was just _something_ about her that Lena couldn't stay away from, something that made Lena long for a closeness she'd forgotten she had the capacity to want.

And any time anyone made her feel anything even close to actual _want_ she usually ran away from them faster than one of the superheroes Kara had artwork of hanging all over her house. Though here she was, at that tipping point, and she knew this was where things became dangerous. This was where she would have to actually face her emotions for once in her life, and as much as that frightened her, she was more scared of what _not _having the conversation would mean.

If she just announced that she was leaving instead of talking to Kara, that would make things incredibly awkward at work. And honestly, it would be a really shitty thing to do. She wouldn't blame Kara for never speaking to her after that except the obligatory offering of food during pass-arounds. But talking to Kara was one of her favorite parts of the day. She genuinely looked forward to the stolen moments at the crafty setup, as few and far between as they were.

If she left and messed things up with Kara, she would dread going to work, and she'd just started to look forward to it again. No, leaving was not an option. Not if it would make her lose Kara completely. She didn't know what she wanted, but she knew it wasn't that.

With shaky hands she smoothed out her hair the best she could, tucking the loose strands behind her ears. If it wasn't a complete invasion of privacy, she might have looked through Kara's bathroom cabinets and drawers for a brush or even a little makeup, just so she could make herself look even just a little presentable.

Even if she didn't know what she wanted with Kara, she didn't want to give the blonde any reason not to want _her. _Sure, Kara had been a fan before, and it was logical to think that she had an unreal version of Lena in her head that was better than the real thing. That was what worried Lena. She was afraid Kara would see her as this beautiful, shiny, new toy that she always wanted, but upon getting it would see it was made of cheap plastic and flimsy parts and be disappointed.

This was never a worry before. Then again, she'd never been turned down before—not by a woman, at least. For parts in movies, sure, she knew rejection. But she'd never known it on a romantic level, and now that she knew it, she was feeling her usual confidence waiver. Kara had turned her down last night. What if during this talk she meant to do it again?

"Calm down, stupid bitch," she muttered to herself in the mirror. "You're Lena _fucking_ Luthor. You can handle talking to a girl about your feelings."

But she wasn't sure she could, and as she exited the bathroom, she did a double-check on her breath and considered going back in to brush her teeth a second time, but then as soon as she turned back, she heard the bedroom door open. She turned again to see Kara standing there, changed out of her pajamas and into jean shorts and a black Panic! At the Disco tank top. She smiled at Lena apprehensively and stuck her hands in the pockets of her shorts.

"Are you feeling better?" Kara asked, eyes sweeping over Lena with concern.

"I am, yeah," Lena said. Her hangover had quickly subsided with the combination of coffee, food, and weed. Yet now she felt shaky and unsteady for other reasons.

"Good." Kara nodded, her face nervous. She rocked forward onto the balls of her feet, then backwards onto her heels awkwardly. "So… Did you still want to talk, or did you want me to just bring you home and we pretend like this never happened?"

Lena stared at her, baffled. It was as if she'd known Lena considered fleeing without having the dreaded conversation, anticipated it even. Yet she'd been the one who asked to talk in the first place. Obviously _Kara_ wanted to talk about what was going on, maybe even needed to. And yet she was still giving Lena an out, regardless of what she wanted or needed.

In the two weeks they'd known each other Kara was already more conscientious of Lena's well-being even than her family had ever been. Lena couldn't fathom why she was concerned, why it mattered to her that she was comfortable. But one look at Kara's face told her why—she, for some incomprehensible reason, cared about Lena.

"We can talk," Lena heard herself saying, almost surprised to hear the words coming out of her mouth. She always expected that if someone tried to pin her down and make her talk about something involving emotions it would be just that—literally pinning her down and forcing her. But this wasn't that. This was her actively choosing to dive into unknown waters. "Can we go in your room?"

"Sure." Kara nodded and stepped back, holding out her arm to urge Lena forward.

The brunette bit her lip as she went into the bedroom, the lamp on the bedside table now on and casting a soft, warm glow across the room. Lena instantly crawled into the right side of the bed, throwing the covers over her legs. Kara joined her on the other side, propping the pillow up against the headboard before leaning back into it.

"So," Kara began, pausing to take in a shaky breath, "Where should we start?"

"I'm not sure," Lena admitted with a frown.

Kara frowned as well, chewing on her lip for a moment as she gazed at Lena. "Okay…" She sighed heavily and ran a hand through her tangled mess of blonde curls. "Well, I guess the first thing I'm curious is the drinking," she said. "I didn't think you'd had that much, but apparently you did—unless you're a lightweight."

"No, I'm not," Lena admitted, averting her eyes to the comforter shyly. "I got my drinks significantly strong and sneaked a shot at the bar when you and Sam weren't looking. Not to mention I mixed vodka and whiskey."

"Yeah, that'll do it," Kara agreed, remembering a particularly bad night when she had vodka, tequila, and whiskey all in the course of a couple hours. She'd had to go to bed with a trashcan near her and couldn't get out of bed until after three p.m. the next day. "But why? Why did you feel the need to get drunk?"

Lena was taken aback. No one had ever asked her that before, questioned the amount she'd had to drink. Most often because she drank alone, but when she was around people, they hardly batted an eye as she slammed glass after glass. Many times, they even encouraged her and bought her more, hoping it would increase their chances of taking her home. Yet here was Kara, making her question her bad habits and the meaning behind them.

"I've… Never been good at dealing with my feelings," Lena admitted slowly. "And I started feeling things I didn't like, so I decided to do what I usually do—numb those emotions with alcohol."

Kara frowned. "But what was so bad that you had to get wasted just to make it through the night?"

Lena's jaw tightened, and she pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "Sam."

"Sam?" There was confusion in Kara's voice.

Lena let out a loud breath, shifting her eyes to Kara. "I was jealous of the two of you together."

"I—But—Sam's straight," Kara sputtered, scratching the back of her neck. "She has a kid."

"That doesn't mean she isn't bi," Lena said, her cheeks turning red. "I don't know, you guys just seem to have gotten really close in a short time, and the way you are with each other made me feel threatened."

"Sam and I just spent over sixty hours together this week," Kara said with a small shrug. "We've talked a lot. I guess there's this closeness you build with people when you're forced to rely on them. I don't really even know Sam well, but I have this trust in her because she's been having my back. And I don't know, she and I just fell into this easy routine with each other. But everything with her is completely platonic, I assure you."

"Okay," Lena said, feeling some tension ease out of her shoulders.

"I guess the next question is— Why did you feel threatened by Sam if you said last time that we shouldn't be together?" Those blue eyes were on her, curious and vulnerable.

Lena's heart felt like it was in the pit of her stomach, and she was glad she had her arms wrapped around herself because if not she was sure she would have been shaking. "Because even though I know I can't have you, I still want you."

Kara's brow crinkled, and she gave a small frown. "What do you mean? Why can't you have me?"

"Because I wouldn't be good for you," Lena said. "I'm not an easy person to deal with. I'm cold and distant, and this is the first time that I've ever talked to anyone about what I'm feeling for them—mostly because it's so rare that I feel _anything_ for someone. But then you come along, and you're sweet and want to talk to me about normal shit like Oreo's, instead of about who I'm dating or what project I'm working on next. And then you also care about things like my mental health and whether or not I've eaten, and that only makes it all worse because I'm not used to people worrying about me, and it's nice." She shook her head. "And all of that just makes me like you more, and I can't like you… That wouldn't end well for either of us."

"What makes you say that?" Kara asked in a quiet voice.

"Because of me not being out," Lena said, her eyes downward. "I can't be the girl you go to the movies with, or the one you make sappy posts about on Valentine's day. And maybe someday I will get to the point where I'm ready to come out, but until then I'm just not capable of being that girl. I can't give you everything you want."

"I'm not asking for everything," Kara said, her eyes firmly on Lena's. "I know you can't be that, not now." She reached out a shaky hand and took Lena's, rubbing her thumb gently across the back of it. "Maybe not ever… But you never know until you try." She gave a small, hopeful smile. "I'm not sure where we go from here, but you say you like me. I obviously really like you, and I think it would be stupid and unhealthy for both of us to keep ignoring the fact that there's something between us."

Lena stared at her for a moment, her heart lifting from her stomach as butterflies took its place. "Agreed," she said quietly. "So what do we do?"

"Well…" Kara scooted closer in the bed, "I know you can't give me everything… But can you give me _something_? Even if it's just confined to this house, even just on the weekends. Can we just try to explore what's going on between us in this safe environment for now and then maybe, someday, if you're ready… We figure out what the next step is?" The blonde searched the actor's face, her own slightly anxious. "Can you do that?"

Lena nodded slowly, swallowing a lump in her throat. "I can try."

"Good," Kara said, a small smile coming to her face. She leaned her head forward ever so slightly, muttering against Lena's lips, "If I kissed you now, would that be okay?"

"Please do," Lena whispered, her eyelids already fluttering closed.

Kara's lips were just as wonderful as she remembered, smooth yet firm against her own. The blonde kissed her sweetly and tenderly, and just as Lena was about to slip her tongue into her mouth for more, Kara pulled away.

"Do you have any plans for the rest of the day?" Kara asked as Lena's eyes opened.

"I mean—_You_ were my plans, I assumed," Lena said hesitantly. "Unless you're busy."

"No, I'm not," Kara said, shaking her head as she laughed lightly. "I just didn't want to assume you'd want to spend the day with me."

"Oh," Lena said, relieved Kara wasn't trying to get rid of her. "Well, I do." And maybe the night, but she would wait for Kara to offer that since she'd invited herself the night before.

"Okay," Kara said, pulling even farther away to look at Lena with a bright smile. "Do you want to stay in bed and cuddle and watch this really cheesy unsolved mysteries series I'm into?"

Uh, no, that hadn't been exactly what Lena had in mind. The moment Kara's lips were on hers, she only had one activity on the brain. But Kara looked enthusiastic about the show, and she had to admit, she was still feeling sluggish after her night of drinking. Besides, maybe jumping right back into sex was too soon.

That was how she did things in the past, spent time with someone solely to come and then bolted. But this was… different. This was someone who wanted all of her, not just the parts between her legs. And for the first time she was looking back at this woman and wanting the same thing.

No, the way she'd done things in the past wouldn't work. She couldn't just fuck Kara and leave—didn't _want_ to. She'd had one thing on her mind, but suddenly just cuddling and feeling a different form of intimacy she'd never allowed herself to have with anyone else sounded—unbelievably—like the better option.

"That sounds amazing," she said with a smile of her own, deciding to put sex on a mental shelf for later.

Kara, now beaming, hopped out of bed. "I'll go get my laptop."

The blonde disappeared into the hallway, leaving Lena to sit there reeling. This— spending time together with the understanding that there were romantic feelings between them—was this what normal people considered a date? Sure, she was still wearing pajamas and they weren't going anywhere, but this at least counted as a low-key date, right? If not it was the closest thing she'd ever had to one, and the idea made the smile on her face stay even while Kara was out of the room.

But it wasn't for long, and then she was back with her laptop in hand. She crawled back between the covers, sitting close enough to Lena so that their legs were pressed together, Lena feeling her body heat through the fabric of the pants she was wearing. It took a minute for the computer to boot up, Kara sighing intermittently while impatiently tapping her fingers on the spot near the mousepad. But once it was up and running, Kara pulled up Hulu and started the show. She put the laptop at the end of the bed, set up so that they could both see it, and the volume up at nearly full blast.

Then she sat back against the headboard again, and Lena scooted up a little to sit closer to her. A commercial started before the program, and Lena almost wanted to offer to sign into her account instead because she was a commercial-free user. But then Kara draped her arm around Lena's shoulder and pulled her closer, and Lena suddenly didn't care about commercials as her head dropped to Kara's chest. She wrapped an arm around Kara's midsection and held onto her, allowed herself to be held in return.

And for the first time in her entire adult life, Lena felt safe and content.

* * *

**I'm glad I had this mostly done before the cat because he bit my fingers and typing is pain :)**

**okay see y'all next chapter**


	12. Delicious

**There's smut at the end and that's all I'm gonna say.**

* * *

Lena fell asleep sometime into the second episode of the unsolved mysteries show, her head on Kara's shoulder and arm locked firmly around her waist. When Kara noticed, glancing down at the peaceful face below hers, her heart felt like it swelled to three times its normal size.

For a fleeting moment she was scared that she was asleep herself, that this was all a vivid dream because there was no way this could be her life. It was if she'd been flung into some bizarre, alternate reality—one where she'd somehow become lucky enough to have Lena Luthor in her bed.

Kara didn't have the most spectacular dating history. She'd dated women in the past, but never for very long. Not that she was happy about that. On the contrary, she hated that she'd never steadily dated someone. She wanted what all her friends had— a committed, healthy relationship. Yet it seemed as if a relationship didn't want her.

Something always ended up happening to derail her blossoming romances before they truly even picked up speed. Sometimes it was her, admittedly. She'd dated a couple of women before who she ended things with because she realized they were either at different points in their lives or that they were toxic to her mental health. But more often it was the other woman who ended things, always giving an excuse to why it didn't work—all claiming it wasn't her, that it was them.

Yet to her, it seemed like the common denominator in these relationships not working out was _her_. She couldn't help but feel like while these women liked her at first, the more they got to know her, the less they liked her—like there was something _wrong_ inside her, and the moment they saw it, they ran.

That was if she could find a woman to go out with in the first place. She'd tried the dating apps, but never got many matches. And if she did, most people didn't message back. If they did, the conversation rarely transpired into a date. Then if it did, it was even more rare that there would be a second date. Any time it went further than a second date Kara started to mentally hold her breath, waiting for something to go wrong. It always did. Even meeting people in real life garnered the same results.

It was enough to make Kara have almost zero confidence in her dating prowess or even in herself. So, no, Lena Luthor even looking in her direction wasn't something she expected. In her wildest dreams, sure, this was what they looked like. Yet—and she pinched herself to make sure—she wasn't dreaming. This was reality, not a fairy tale, and at some point, she lost interest in her show completely, preferring to simply gaze down at Lena's sleeping face with amazement.

The first night they were together had been completely out of character for Kara. She'd never—_ever_—slept with someone the first time they spent time together. It was an intimacy that made her feel so vulnerable she couldn't bring herself to get to that point with someone without feeling at least a small level of trust beforehand. Yet the moment Lena wanted to have sex she didn't hesitate.

Maybe it was because of the idea she'd built up of Lena in her head, the one that gave her a weird sense of familiarity around the brunette even though they were still practically strangers— despite the fact that they'd been inside each other. Or maybe it was because it had been so long since she'd been touched by someone other than herself that in a moment of weakness she gave into her needs despite her emotional hang-ups.

She hadn't been deluded. She knew Lena wasn't going to be able to give her the whirlwind romance she dreamed of. Lena made it very clear that Kara's vision of having it all was not within her capabilities at the moment. Yet while Kara wanted it all—the dream life of a house, a wife, children, and maybe even a couple of dogs and cats—she knew she still had plenty of time to make those things happen. A relationship had to grow before those things could come.

And maybe Lena was unable to be in a relationship that could grow into that. The pessimist in her screamed that in the back of her brain, while the optimist quietly told her they'd never know until they tried. She didn't know exactly what they were—girlfriends, friends with benefits, _whatever_. All she knew was that Lena was pressed against her, solid and real and not some figment of her imagination. And even if she wasn't offering her everything, Kara was willing to take whatever Lena had to give.

Lena didn't wake up again until later that afternoon. She roused slowly, blinking open bleary green eyes to see Kara had at some point turned off the show and opened a book instead. Upon seeing Lena awake, though, she closed the paperback and placed it on her nightstand before turning to Lena with a smile.

"Hi," she said in a soft voice, reaching out and tucking a strand of Lena's hair behind her ear. "Did you have a nice nap?"

"Yes," Lena said with a small yawn, sitting up next to Kara in bed. "Sorry I feel asleep."

"Don't be," Kara said, shaking her head. She took one of Lena's hands in her own and lifted it to her mouth, kissing the back of it. "You obviously needed it since you slept for—" she grabbed her cellphone off the bed and checked the time, "—five hours."

Lena's eyes widened, and she raised her eyebrows. "Holy shit." She lifted a hand to her face shyly and hid behind it. "I'm terrible company."

"No, you're not," Kara insisted with an earnest smile. "I didn't mind just lying here next to you while you slept." While Kara loved living alone since moving into a place all by herself, sometimes she had to admit it did get lonely. It was nice to have a presence around her again, even if they weren't interacting. "Besides, you looked so peaceful I didn't want to disturb you."

Lena blushed at that, looking down quickly. "Well, thank you." She cleared her throat. "I'm feeling well-rested now, though."

"Good," Kara said with a small nod.

"What time is it?" the brunette asked, stretching her arms out slowly and enjoying the popping in her joints.

"Nearly five," Kara told her, holding up the phone to show it to her.

Lena blinked in amazement. "What the fuck? Are you sure I was only asleep for five hours?"

"Yeah," Kara said with a small laugh. "You didn't wake up until almost eleven this morning."

"Oh." Lena's brow furrowed, realizing she'd never bothered to check or ask the time when she first woke up. And even afterwards she didn't care about the time, so she didn't remember to be concerned about it. But then she realized it had been over twelve hours since she'd checked her phone. "Do you know where my phone is?" she asked Kara.

The blonde nodded. "In the living room, on the couch."

"I should probably check that," Lena muttered, swinging her legs off the bed and crawling from the warmth and comfort it offered.

She padded out of the room and through the house to the living room. There she saw her phone on the couch, along with her keys and clutch purse. When she picked up the phone, she saw that the battery was nearly dead. She also had a couple of missed calls and voicemails from Lillian, but she simply deleted the messages without listening to them. And all fifteen of her texts were from Lillian as well. She erased them without reading them. Then she checked her email to see her callsheet for Monday, and then her phone died in her hands. When Kara came into the living room, Lena was frowning down at the dead device.

"What's wrong?" Kara asked upon seeing the frown.

"Nothing, my phone just died," Lena said, tossing the iPhone back on the couch.

"Do you have a charger?"

"No."

Now Kara frowned. "You have an iPhone, right?" When Lena nodded, the frown deepened. "I have an Android, but I used to have an iPhone. I'm sure I still have a wire around here somewhere."

Lena opened her mouth to accept the wire, then stopped herself. "Actually, I'm not worried about it."

"Really?" Kara asked with raised eyebrows. "You're sure?"

"Positive."

And she was. The only person who'd tried to contact her the entire time she hadn't checked her phone was her mother, and she was the absolute last person she wanted to talk to. So, if her phone was dead, her mother would be forced to leave her alone. And even if she did happen to show up at her apartment like the other times, Lena wouldn't even be there. At least not then. For now, she couldn't get to her, and Lillian was the last thing she wanted to worry about. She was a problem for later.

"Well, let me know if you want it," Kara said, then her face fell. "Unless you're ready for me to take you home."

Lena shook her head quickly. "I'm not."

"Good." She smiled at the other woman before biting her lip. "You're welcome to spend the night again, if you want."

Lena bit back a smile of her own as to not appear too eager. "I do."

"Okay," Kara breathed out, her smile now so wide it took up her whole face. "I don't have anything substantial to cook for dinner, but we can order in. Whatever you want."

"Kara, it's barely five and you're already thinking about dinner," Lena said with a smirk.

Kara's cheeks turned red at the observation. "Sorry, it's kind of a habit at this point—planning meals ahead."

"Well take the day off," Lena said, stepping closer to Kara and taking her hand. "We'll figure out dinner when we get hungry."

"Who said I wasn't hungry?" Kara quipped with a grin. "Full disclosure, I'm always hungry. My sister calls me the human garbage disposal, and my mom has to stock the pantry with snacks for me when I go home to visit."

"After seeing you eat, I believe it," Lena said with a laugh. "I'm actually amazed you're in as good of shape as you are."

"I walk an average of ten miles a day," Kara said and shrugged. "Besides, I don't have time to eat when I'm working. I usually don't even eat breakfast, just wait and snack on whatever pass-around we're doing before I start handing it out."

"You made me that sandwich the other day, though," Lena pointed out. "Did you make one for yourself?"

"No."

"_Kara_," Lena said, squeezing the hand she still held. "You need to eat, too, you know."

Kara gave a small, bashful smile. "I know… My therapist says I'm really good at taking care of other people, but myself—not so much." She shuffled her feet awkwardly, glancing down at them. "I'm working on it." Then she looked back up, blue eyes locking onto Lena's. "I promise I'll try to remember to eat more."

"Good," Lena said, letting out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. It was odd, the sudden concern she felt for Kara upon finding out she had been more worried about her eating than herself. "Well, if you're hungry, we can order food now."

"No, I can wait," Kara said, her cheeks going a slight shade of pink.

"You sure?" Lena asked, eyebrows raised.

"Absolutely." The blonde chuckled slightly. "Besides, if we ate this early, I'd probably just be hungry again in a few hours."

"True." Lena smirked again.

"Well, what do you want to do until then?" Kara asked earnestly.

Lena shrugged. "Whatever you want," she said nonchalantly.

She knew what she wanted to do now that she was fully awake. But once again, she didn't want to push too much physical intimacy just yet. She wasn't sure what kind of relationship they'd entered into exactly, but she was pretty sure relationships didn't consist of fucking every waking second.

Kara chewed her lip, thinking of what she had to do at her house. She had some video games, but few were multiplayer. And she didn't know if Lena would even want to play video games anyway. They could watch another movie or TV show, but that's all they'd been doing. If this was anyone else, she would have suggested they go out and do something, but these weren't normal circumstances. She and Lena couldn't just go out without drawing some sort of attention, the exact thing Lena was trying to avoid.

"Do you want to play a board game?" Kara asked, the offer sounding lame to her, yet Lena surprisingly lit up at the idea.

"Which one?" the brunette asked, interest flashing in her green eyes.

"Uh—I have Life, Battleship, Monopoly—"

"I love Monopoly," Lena said instantly.

Kara blinked in astonishment. "Okay. I'll get it."

She disappeared into the hallway, and Lena heard her rummaging through a closet. When Kara came back, she had the game in her hands. She put box on the coffee table and opened the lid to start taking out the pieces.

"Alex and I used to play this all the time when we were kids," Kara said, taking out the board itself and opening it on the tabletop as she sat on the couch. "I swear she used to steal my money every time I got up to go to the bathroom."

"Lex wasn't much better," Lena said as she sat next to Kara and began to help her set up the game. "His favorite game was chess, but no matter what we played, if he lost, he always retaliated by destroying my stuff."

Kara paused, stack of Community Chest cards in hand, and looked at Lena. "Destroyed what? How?"

Lena shrugged. "One time he smashed a snow globe. Another he threw my favorite stuffed bear in the fireplace. He also ripped my Barbie's head off. Just stupid kid stuff like that."

"Lena, that's really fucked up," Kara said, shaking her head. "That's not normal kid stuff. That's just mean—maybe even evil."

"He grew out of it," Lena said with a dismissive wave of the hand. She'd also started letting him win, and the torture had stopped. "I think it was because he was ashamed. Every time we played Lillian would be watching over us like a hawk, and she would give him this deeply disapproving look if I beat him. Then he'd get up and walk off without a word. She'd follow, and then I was left to pick up the game by myself." She shrugged and picked out the dog piece, which was always her favorite. "Later I would find something destroyed. I'd clean up the mess and not say a word about it; Lex never did, either. Eventually I just started letting him win, and the torment stopped."

"You don't still play games together, do you?" Kara asked. She picked out the racecar piece for herself and put it at the start.

"No, but we don't really see each other anymore," Lena said, a small frown on her face. "Ever since he fired Lillian as his agent and manager, I haven't had any contact with him."

"That hardly seems fair." Kara frowned. "He can fire her, but that doesn't mean you're not still family. And whatever issues they have, it shouldn't affect your relationship with your brother."

She knew Kara was right. But she also knew that after the firing of Lillian and the subsequent media buzz it created, Lex never reached out to her to explain what had truly happened. Lillian never spoke a word to her about it, either. All she knew on the topic was what she'd seen or read in interviews with Lex. And always wanting to protect his public image, Lex had claimed things like he and Lillian had different creative views when it came to his career—that the split had been a mutual, amicable decision.

Which Lena knew was mostly true, except for the part about the firing being copacetic in any shape or form. Lex always wanted to take on serious roles, ones in action movies or crime dramas, or things like that. Lillian, on the other hand, thought Lex was better suited to playing the male lead in romantic comedies. But the fact that Lex had gone bald before age thirty didn't help him land those parts, and in truth he was much better at playing a villain trying to rob a bank than he was at playing a guy trying to woo a woman in a coffee shop.

But what he didn't say were the other issues that she knew were there, what she'd seen done to him and what Lillian did to her. Lillian's idea of parenting was focusing solely on her children's careers. Every audition failed, their mother felt was a personal affront to her, like they'd purposefully bombed the audition just to spite her. Going into an audition was unnerving enough without having to worry about their own mother berating them afterwards. And when they were children, they had no choice. Lillian was their guardian, could do whatever she wanted with them, and Lionel was either never around or too drunk to care about what his wife did with the offspring. In truth, she was surprised Lex didn't fire Lillian the moment he turned eighteen. And she was still trying to figure out why she hadn't done so as well.

"Lex has had every opportunity to reach out to me," Lena said, her jaw tight as she turned her attention to dividing up the money—she still knew the starting amounts by heart. "My phone number's never changed, even if his has."

"Maybe he's waiting for you to contact him." Kara shrugged, picking up the dice and rolling them around in her hands.

"I don't have his new number," Lena said, not missing a beat in counting out Kara's money. She handed the stack over when she was done.

"There's no way you can get it?" Kara asked as she took the fake bills. "No other relative or a friend or someone who may be able to give it to you?"

"If he wanted to contact me, he would, Kara," Lena said, beginning to count out her own money. "But I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for the phone to ring." She gave a small smile in an attempt to show she was okay, to hide the fact that her brother's absence from her life didn't bother her as much as it actually did. "Do you want to keep talking about my traumatic family life, or do you want to play?"

Kara actually did want to talk more about Lena's family. It didn't seem like she had the best home life, and from what she gathered, Lena never talked about it or unpacked the trauma. She knew what it was like to keep pain bottled up, how it was always just waiting to burst. She wanted Lena to be able to open up about it, to talk it out in a safe environment so she could start to make sense of her feelings. But she also knew that was something Lena had to be ready to do, and if she was changing topic she obviously wasn't there yet.

Besides, while Kara had no problem talking about the things that bothered her after being in years of therapy, not everyone was the same. She shouldn't expect someone else to be willing to open up about the deepest inner-workings of their mind like she did, at least not this soon into knowing each other.

"Let's play," Kara said with a small smile. "And please, don't hold back. You don't have to let me win. I'm a big girl. I can take it."

"Are you sure?" Lena shot back with a smirk. "I have to warn you, I'm quite good."

"That's fine. I'm good at losing," Kara said, winking at her.

* * *

They played for a little over an hour, Lena completely bankrupting Kara easily. From what the brunette could tell, Kara had no strategy. She simply bought whatever she landed on, and then she was unable to build any hotels or houses. Lena had multiple of each, and all it took was Kara landing on Lena's Boardwalk with a hotel to end the game.

Kara conceded defeat, standing from the couch and bowing to Lena gracefully. Lena blushed at the gesture, but she couldn't fight the smile that came to her face. Afterwards they cleaned up the game and ordered food to be delivered to the house. It didn't take long to arrive, thankfully, because they'd ordered from a Japanese restaurant a couple of blocks from Kara's house.

When it got there, they put on a movie of Kara's suggestion—_Captain Marvel _—and settled onto the couch to watch it while they ate their food. Lena had never seen the movie, wasn't really a fan of superhero films to begin with. But she was surprised to find herself enjoying it and was completely engrossed halfway through. By the end of it she realized it wasn't superhero movies that she hated—it was just the ones about men that she didn't care for.

Afterwards Kara went to take a shower, handing over the PlayStation controller to Lena so she could pick something to watch on one of her streaming services. But Lena didn't know how to work it and spent half of Kara's shower just figuring out how to navigate, let alone select anything. By the time Kara got out of the shower, Lena had figured out how to start an episode of a cooking show on Hulu, and then she handed over the controller so she could take her turn in the shower.

Kara had laid out new clothes and towels for her, and she was touched at the gesture. Thankfully the water didn't take long to warm since Kara had just been in the shower. Lena could still smell her shampoo and soap hanging in the air. She loved using Kara's shampoo, liked the fact that even after she went home tomorrow, she would still have the smell of her on her as a memory.

When she got out of the shower, she dried her hair as best as she could before toweling off the rest of her body. She went to put on the cotton sleep shorts and blue tank top Kara had given her to change into but stopped when she heard a knock at the door. She quickly wrapped her towel around herself before opening the door a crack. Kara's blue eyes greeted her through the slit in the door, and she fully opened it.

"Everything okay?" she asked the blonde, feeling a little self-conscious standing there in just a towel.

"Yeah, fine, everything's good," Kara said awkwardly, running a shaky hand through her still-wet hair.

"Alright," Lena said, frowning with confusion. "Well I was about to get dressed into the clothes you left for me," she explained, jutting her thumb over her shoulder at the clothes sitting on the counter.

"Yeah, about that," Kara said, her cheeks going red. "What if you didn't?"

Lena bit back a smile, quirking an eyebrow. "Interesting thought." Then she asked coyly, "Why wouldn't I?"

Kara blew out a breath, realizing Lena wasn't going to make this easy on her. "Well, last night, when you were drunk, you wanted us to have sex." Her cheeks turned even redder, and her face clearly showed the nerves she felt at the moment. "Now that you're sober, now that we've talked and kind of figured out—" she gestured back and forth between the two of them, "—_this_.. Is that something you're still interested in?"

Lena nearly laughed. It was the most awkward yet considerate proposition for sex she'd ever gotten, and it simultaneously warmed her heart and made her wet.

"Well," Lena said, unfastening the towel and letting it fall to a heap around her feet, "it's about time you asked." She quirked an eyebrow, a playful grin coming to her lips as Kara's eyes bulged.

"I—I didn't want to assume," Kara sputtered, licking her suddenly dry lips.

"You were worried I wouldn't want you anymore when I sobered up," Lena said, stepping forward and hooking a finger into the elastic of Kara's shorts. She tugged gently, pulling Kara in a little. "Well, I'm stone-cold sober now, and I want you." She gazed up into blue eyes, hovering her lips right below Kara's. "So, what are you going to do about it?"

Kara didn't answer with words. Instead, she simply smiled and reached down, taking Lena's hand that was on her shorts. Silently, she tugged on that hand and began to lead Lena from the bathroom and down the hallway. When they got into the bedroom, Kara stopped at the foot of the bed.

Then Lena couldn't wait anymore and placed a hand on the back of Kara's head, pulling her down and kissing her fiercely. It was wet and hot, and a shiver ran up her spine as a slick tongue rolled into her mouth. She pushed on Kara's shoulders slightly, leading her down onto a sitting position on the end of her bed. Lena straddled her hips, mouth never leaving the blonde's.

Lena felt hands roaming across her back, setting fire to her skin. Then one slid around to the front and cupped her breast, and she sighed into Kara's mouth at the contact. She'd been thinking about these hands, envisioning this moment for a week. And now that it had come, she was filled with pent-up desire and overwhelming need. She could feel how wet she already was, and surely Kara could feel it beginning to soak through the fabric of her shorts.

She took hold of Kara's hand that was on her breast and pushed it lower, until Kara got the idea, and her fingers found Lena's clit on their own. As the pads of her fingers swiped across it, Lena moaned into Kara's mouth, instinctively rocking her hips into the touch. Then the fingers went lower, into the warmth between Lena's legs as her thumb took over rubbing Lena's clit.

She started slowly at first, but Lena's need was too urgent, and she bucked her hips in time with Kara's careful strokes. The other hand stayed on her back, holding her steady, grounding her as she ground herself into Kara's fingers.

Then she was falling over the edge, her lips finally leaving Kara's so she could yell out the blonde's name as her walls constricted around the other woman's fingers. She came hard around the digits and bit down into Kara's shoulder to stifle her yells as she rode out the pleasurable waves coursing through her body.

Kara placed sweet butterfly kiss across Lena's cheek as she started to come down from her orgasm, only removing her hand from her center when the brunette stilled above her. Lena lifted her head from Kara's shoulder weakly, looking at the blonde with heavy-lidded eyes. But they went wide as Kara lifted her fingers to her own mouth and sucked the arousal off them.

"You taste _so good_," Kara muttered in a sultry voice.

"I remember you being quite delicious yourself," Lena shot back, her eyes shifting to Kara's lips. "But my memory's starting to get a little foggy."

"We should do something about that." Kara gave a playful grin.

"You should sit on my face," Lena responded, voicing one of the fantasies she'd had about Kara since the moment she laid eyes on her.

Kara's brain short-circuited for a moment, and she simply stared at Lena with a slack jaw before stammering out, "I—Yeah—I should."

Lena bit her lip as she leaned back ever so slightly and gripped the hem of Kara's t-shirt. "You won't be needing this."

Kara lifted her arms and allowed Lena to pull of the garment, tossing it aside. Kara hadn't put on a bra after her shower, and her bare chest greeted the brunette, a beautiful, distracting sight. Lena stood, standing before Kara and gazing down at her with lust-filled eyes. Those eyes traveled to the shorts she'd most likely ruined, and for a fleeting moment she tried to make a mental note to buy her more. But that was a concern for later. In the meantime, the shorts were in the way.

The blonde seemed to agree because she stood and slid them off her hips, underwear and all and stepped out of them. As Lena's eyes traveled over her, she began to blush a little, suddenly self-conscious. But when those eyes snapped back to hers, a darker shade of green and pupils incredibly dilated, she regained a little confidence.

She reached out and pulled Lena to her, kissing her soundly on the lips, her tongue instantly roaming into the brunette's mouth. Lena tasted the saltiness on her tongue, intoxicating as she shuddered under Kara's touch.

Kara spun them around so that Lena's back was to the bed, and she led them down onto it, hovering above Lena. The star's nails dragged down Kara's back, leaving light pink scratch marks. Kara responded by biting Lena's lip, pulling away slowly and dragging it out. Lena gazed up at her, her breath coming in quick gasps.

"Straddle me," she ordered.

Kara didn't like to be told what to do—by anyone, _ever_—yet when Lena did it, her core flooded with heat, and she didn't get the feeling of contempt that usually accompanied being bossed around. Instead, she immediately lifted herself off Lena so she could reposition herself.

She carefully placed her legs on the sides on Lena's head and gripped onto her headboard for support as she slowly lowered herself towards Lena's face. Lena brought her hands up and cupped Kara's ass as her tongue met with warmth and softness. Her head between the sturdiness of Kara's thighs was everything she'd dreamed it be, and she wasted no time in exploring Kara at a new angle. The delicate saltiness rolled across her tongue, and as she plunged in deeper, Kara began to grind herself in time with Lena. The brunette's nails dug into Kara's skin pleasantly, and Kara's knuckles turned white as she held onto the headboard while her body began to shake slightly.

She threw her head back as ecstasy took over, her eyes closing when the orgasm began to roll through her body. But Lena didn't stop until her mouth was full of Kara, and the blonde's thighs began to shake along with the rest of her body. Lena released her grip on Kara's ass so she could dismount, falling to a sitting position beside Lena on the bed.

The actor sat up next to her, wiping her chin clean with her fingers before sucking them into her mouth briefly, raising her eyebrows at Kara as she did it. Kara responded by reaching out and taking Lena's fingers from her mouth, lacing them with her own instead, and kissing Lena gently and tenderly. When they pulled away, Kara pressed her forehead against Lena's and smiled before biting down on her lip.

"We may need to shower again," Kara muttered, knowing her body was slick with sweat from the physical exertion.

"We can shower in the morning," Lena said, removing her forehead from the blonde's and leaning back to give her a smile of her own. She reached out and smoothed out Kara's nearly dry hair. "Showering now would be counterproductive."

Kara smirked, and she glanced down at Lena's lips as she asked coyly, "Oh? And why is that?"

"Because," Lena said, once again throwing her legs across Kara's lap and straddling her, "I'm not done with you quite yet."

"Well, then, Miss Luthor," Kara said, her hands going to Lena's hips as she leaned up towards Lena's lips, "Why don't you show me what you had in mind?"

* * *

**You're welcome to one person who reviews this ever, Johnny.**


	13. Boundaries

**New words, here you go.**

* * *

They didn't leave the bed for the rest of Saturday night. When Kara woke up the next morning, she was pleasantly sore, but that didn't stop her from crawling out of bed and heading to the kitchen to start on food for the both of them. She woke up Lena twenty minutes later with a gentle kiss to the forehead and coaxed her from the sheets with a steaming mug of coffee.

They scarfed down the pancakes Kara had prepared, both needing to refuel after the physical exertion from the night before. They'd made love several more times after the first, well into the early hours of the morning until exhaustion took them over, and they fell asleep tangled up in each other. By the end of it, Lena's throat had been raw from screaming Kara's name so much that she was surprised when she didn't wake up hoarse that Sunday.

But even with the numerous orgasms Lena'd had the night before, all it took was watching Kara suck excess syrup off her fingers for the actor's body to become flooded with heat again. She dragged Kara right back to bed and had her way with her. Afterwards Kara took her into the bathroom and started the shower. Once they got inside, Kara pressed Lena up against the tiled wall and returned the favor, not stopping until Lena climaxed twice and her knees began to buckle underneath her.

After the shower Kara gave Lena clothes to change into, Lena promising to wash them and return them the next weekend. But Kara didn't really care about getting the clothes back, or if they were clean when they were returned. All she heard was Lena saying she intended to come back the next weekend, and that was what she focused on.

Sadly, though, their weekend was coming to a close. Lena had to go back home so she could study her lines for Monday, and Kara had a little bit of shopping and paperwork to do as well. Lena kicked her acting skills into high gear in order to hide how sad she was to be leaving Kara. She knew she would see her again on set the next day, but it wouldn't be the same. They'd be working then, and pulling Kara aside for a heated make out session any time she wanted would be unprofessional.

She was going to have to be careful about the way she handled herself around the blonde. Any lingering looks, stolen brushes of fingers, or light flirtations could be seen or picked up on by someone else on set. She'd have to look at Kara and treat her like anyone else on crew.

It was going to be her greatest acting challenge yet, and certainly she could rise to the occasion. She'd been hiding her true feelings her whole life, concealing who she was from the world. Hiding a relationship with Kara should have been a piece of cake. Yet as she glanced at Kara from the passenger seat of her Jeep, she knew it was going to be difficult to treat her like she wasn't anything special.

And unfortunately, the drive across the city wasn't very long. Lena almost wished they lived in a city with more traffic like Los Angeles or Metropolis. Most of the time she loved the fact that National City's traffic was mostly the typical rush hour in the morning and afternoon as people went to and from work. But that Sunday traffic was incredibly light, and Kara was pulling into the parking structure of Lena's building not even ten minutes after leaving her house.

Lena hesitated as Kara put the vehicle in park, not wanting to leave the blonde just yet. She knew it was inevitable, their separation. But expecting it didn't make it any easier, and she couldn't bring herself to say goodbye just yet.

"Thanks for driving me home," Lena said, casting a shy smile at her chauffeur.

"Of course," Kara said, returning an anxious smile of her own. "Besides, it gave me an excuse to spend more time with you."

Lena bit her lip, her stomach doing a somersault. At least she wasn't alone in wanting to prolong their time together. "I wish I could invite you in, but you'd be a certain distraction to my work, and I know you have your own work to do as well."

"Yeah, I do," Kara said with a sigh and ducked her head.

There were a couple of things to grab from the store, and she had receipts to enter. She'd gotten most of it done the week before, and she'd probably have time to do paperwork the next day. But their budget was stretched so thin that she wanted to turn receipts in as quickly as possible in order to get accounting to reimburse them.

"Maybe some other time," Lena said, reaching across the center console and placing a hand on Kara's thigh.

Kara placed her hand atop Lena's and looked back up, locking blue eyes onto green. "Counting on it."

Lena stared at her for a moment, eyes drifting down to pink, plump lips she still remembered so clearly on her own. She knew it was risky—that even though they were in the parking garage instead of on the street that didn't mean they were in complete privacy. Anyone could come walking to or from the building at any moment and see them sitting there, idling in Kara's SUV. Yet if this was the last chance she had to be alone with Kara for another week, she didn't want to waste any opportunity to make the most of their final seconds.

She leaned over slowly, brushing her nose against Kara's as her eyes closed. She felt the blonde tense slightly beneath her, felt her breath coming in quick gasps against her lips. Kara was about to question what she was doing, even if it was perfectly clear. But they were in semi-public, and Lena was the one who was worried about her secrecy. Yet her lips were inching towards her own, and if Lena didn't care, then Kara couldn't find a reason to.

The kiss was sweet, soft at first, then deepening as Kara melted into it. Lena's hand came up and cupped Kara's cheek as her tongue prodded gently into the blonde's mouth. Kara felt like her whole body was buzzing, and she could feel herself shuddering in her seat. There was heat starting between her legs, and she was almost embarrassed at how worked up she was getting over a simple kiss.

She pulled away first, knowing if they kept it up, she would be unable to control her want for more. Lena's eyes flashed open, irises wide and a trace of disappointment on her face. But she blinked a few times and shook her head as if to clear it, leaning away from Kara and back into her seat.

"I'm sorry," Lena muttered, lifting a hand to cover her mouth and the ghost of Kara's lips.

"I'm not," Kara said, glancing at Lena coyly. "I just knew if I kept kissing you, I'd lose my will to leave you. And it's already pretty weak."

Lena stared at the blonde, almost at a loss for words. It was unusual, to have someone so ready to admit they enjoyed her company. Someone that wasn't _just_ a fan, that was. Sure, any time she encountered a fan they always wanted to talk to her for as long as possible. She was used to that. But the romantic partners she'd had in the past weren't like that. They were like her—cold and distant and would rather die than admit that someone meant something to them. And most often she couldn't wait to get away from these people. Lena wasn't used to this, to someone expressing their desire for her company—or to have someone she realized she was capable of missing.

"I suppose I should go inside and stop tempting you, then," Lena said when she recovered, quirking an eyebrow at the woman next to her.

Kara nodded slowly. "I suppose," she said, though she didn't think the whole out of sight, out of mind concept would apply to Lena. She was certain she would see flashes of green eyes, dark hair, and that dazzling smile in the back of her mind constantly throughout the day. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Yes," Lena said, hand going slowly to the door handle. "See you tomorrow."

Kara stared at her for a moment, then leaned forward and placed a quick kiss on Lena's cheek. When she pulled away, she smiled sweetly and whispered, "Bye, Lena."

Lena returned the smile and brushed her fingers across Kara's cheek briefly. "Goodbye, Kara."

She watched Kara drive away, her heart sinking to her stomach as she went. She knew it wasn't going to be the last time she saw her, that they would be in the same location again in not even twenty-four hours. Yet everything would be different then. And it would be another week before they could be together in the way she wanted again.

But there was nothing she could do about it. She'd been the one to want to keep their relationship a secret. She was the one who needed boundaries. Still, she knew even if they were public about their romantic relationship, work would still be off-limits for exploring that. Yet if they were public, she wouldn't have to be as careful about spending time with the blonde in the open. However, just thinking about going public about her relationship with a woman and thus outing herself made her body feel hot all over, and she was thankful when she got inside the building and into the air conditioning.

She just wanted to get upstairs and into her apartment, to get to learning her lines so she could focus on anything but Kara's absence. The walk to the lobby and elevators from the parking garage wasn't long, thankfully, and the front desk came into view quickly.

Sitting behind it was Roy, a young man with a chiseled jaw and short brown hair. He'd started working the front desk a few months after Lena moved in. They hadn't spoken much, Lena never stopping at the front desk much. But he always greeted her when he saw her, and never bothered her to talk like some of the other desk clerks who were obvious fans and a little too interested in her life.

"Good afternoon, Miss Luthor," Roy said when she approached.

"Good afternoon, Roy," she said with a small smile as she made a beeline for the elevator.

"Uh, Miss Luthor?" he said, surprising Lena.

She turned to look at him expectantly. "Yes?"

"Your, uh—Your mother was here yesterday and this morning," Roy said, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. "She was looking for you, said she was worried you hadn't been answering her calls or texts."

Lena stiffened at this. She hadn't thought about her mother since seeing all the aforementioned missed attempts at communication before her phone died. And she'd never bothered to ask Kara for a charger. Her phone was still lifeless, sitting in the pocket of the pair of jeans Kara had loaned her.

"Did you let her into my penthouse?" Lena asked, eyeing Roy carefully.

His face went red, and he pulled awkwardly at the collar of his white uniform shirt. "I didn't want to, but I didn't have a choice." He sighed and leaned forward across the desk, lowering his voice as he said, "I tried to tell her she didn't have a right to enter your home since you're the sole owner of the property, but she got my boss out here and raised hell. He made me give her the key."

Lena fumed silently at Lillian's audacity. "Raised hell how?" she asked, her jaw tight.

Roy opened his mouth to answer, then suddenly thought better of it. He shook his head quickly. "I shouldn't even be telling you this. It's inappropriate. I'm sorry. This isn't your problem."

"It is my problem, though," Lena answered. "You're right—my mother has no right to enter my home without my permission. I don't want her to. She's done it time and time again, and frankly, I'm sick of it. I've even expressed to other front desks clerks that she's not allowed to be here without my knowledge or to have access to my keys." Lena let out a deep sigh and dropped her clutch and keys on the desk. "Roy, please tell me what happened."

Roy hesitated, seeming to weigh his options. Then he muttered, "She complained to my manager, and got me put on probation with a pay cut." He glanced down at the desktop, balling his fists on its top. "I really need this job, so there wasn't much I could do about it. I was just happy not to be fired."

Lena stared at him, aghast. This poor guy had just been doing his job, better than any of the other desk clerks who handed over her keys to Lillian without even questioning whether or not she legally had a right to them. Yet he'd paid a price for it. And all because she'd refused to jump at Lillian's beck and call. She couldn't help feeling partially responsible, but somewhere deep down she knew that this hadn't been her fault. Lillian was an adult, and her actions were on her and her alone. But that didn't mean Lena couldn't do something about them.

"Roy, is your boss here right now?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah, in the office," Roy said, jutting his thumb over his shoulder to the door behind the desk that Lena guessed was to the office.

"Can you let him know I'd like to speak with him, please?"

Roy's eyes went wide. "I—Um, okay."

He nervously stood up, tucking the tail of his shirt back into his pants as he crossed to the door. He knocked hesitantly, and was answered with a muffled, "_What?_"

"Sir, Lena Luthor wants to speak with you," he said loudly to be heard through the door, which opened almost an instant later.

The man who walked out was dressed in a sleek suit, his brown hair was slicked back, and he instantly put on a fake smile to replace the scowl he'd been wearing when he first opened the door. Lena remembered him giving her a tour of the building when she was considering moving in, and then again when she signed the papers and got the keys. She hadn't seen him again since.

"Miss Luthor, hello," he said, extending his hand. "It's good to see you again."

"You too," Lena lied, shaking his hand limply. "I'm sorry, remind me of your name again."

His smile faltered, obviously insulted she didn't remember. "Adrian Chase." He cleared his throat as he took his hand back and then stuck both of them in his pockets. "What can I do for you?"

"I understand my mother was here yesterday," Lena said, narrowing her eyes at the overly confident man. "And she had you reprimand Roy for not letting her into my penthouse."

Adrian glanced down at Roy quickly, his face hardening for a moment before he looked back to Lena with another fake smile. "Well, Mrs. Luthor was concerned for your safety—"

"That's bullshit," Lena said, cutting off the man and causing him to stare at her with wide eyes. "I can assure you—she was not worried about me. She was angry I didn't want to talk to her and came down here to force herself into my home in retaliation. Which she has done on numerous occasions before." She glared at Mr. Chase now, anger bubbling to the surface. "And each time I've expressed to the staff that I'm not okay with this. To emphasize that, I've changed the locks after every one of these visits. Yet somehow your staff keeps giving her copies of the keys against my wishes. I believe Roy here is the first one to actually honor those wishes. And for that you've put him on probation and cut his pay."

Adrian ogled at her for a moment, his jaw slack before he recovered and put on yet another shit-eating grin. "Well, your mother—"

"Is not on the deed to my penthouse and has no legal right to enter it without my permission," Lena finished for him. "Every time she does, she is breaking the law. When you and your staff allow her in, you're breaking it as well. Roy has been the only exception to this."

"Miss Luthor, I—"

"Owe me and Roy an apology? I couldn't agree more," Lena said, smirking triumphantly when that dumb smile fell from Mr. Chase's face.

"I'm…sorry," he said slowly, all light leaving his eyes.

"Good. Now, a couple of things are going to happen," Lena said, crossing her arms over her chest. "First, I'd like for you to send someone up to change my locks _again_. This new key is never, _ever_ to be put into the hands of Lillian Luthor. If it does, I will hold you personally responsible, Mr. Chase." She quirked an eyebrow and nodded her head towards the poor, young desk clerk caught up in the middle of this. "Roy isn't on probation any longer, either. And not only are you going to raise his pay back up, it better be damn well better pay than before."

"You don't have the authority to make those decisions," Adrian shot back, seemingly pleased that he thought he had the higher ground.

"Don't I?" Lena asked with a patronizing smile. "You may be his boss, but I'm sure there's someone over your head. How would _your _boss feel about you allowing someone to break into my penthouse?"

Adrian's jaw tightened. "It won't happen again, Miss Luthor."

"It better not," Lena said. "Or it'll be _your_ job, not Roy's." She picked up her clutch and keys from the desktop. "And if I find out you've fired Roy in retaliation, I'll make sure you no longer work here anymore, either. Is that clear?"

"Crystal," Mr. Chase said hollowly.

"Good." Lena turned from him and smiled down at Roy, who was sitting there dumbfounded at all he'd just witnessed. "I'm sorry you got caught up in this, Roy."

"I, uh—It's fine," he sputtered quickly. "Thank you, Miss Luthor."

"Call me Lena." She gave him a tiny wink before turning to finally head to the elevators.

"Have a good evening, Lena," Mr. Chase said to her retreating back.

Lena whirled around, glaring. "It's Miss Luthor to you."

* * *

Apparently her threats were taken seriously because a handyman was at her door not even five minutes after she'd gotten into her penthouse. He was quick about the work, giving Lena a copy of her new key before he headed out. It wasn't until she was finally alone that she went to find her phone charger and plugged in the dead device.

It took a few moments to boot up, but once it did, she got a flood of missed calls, texts, and voicemails. And just as expected, they were all from Lillian. She clenched her jaw as she read through a few of the texts, all demanding to know where she was and why she wasn't answering. It was ridiculous, and borderline stalking. Honestly, if this had been a lover or a friend, she would have gotten a restraining order. But this was Lillian, the woman who had raised her, even if she constantly went back and forth between being negligent and a helicopter mom.

She was about to bite the bullet and return one of the multiple phone calls when the cell started ringing right there in her hand, her mother's name flashing across the caller id. Lena sighed deeply before pressing answer and holding the phone to her ear.

"Hello, _Lillian_," Lena said coldly.

"Don't take that tone with me, Lena Kieran Luthor," Lillian shot back, making Lena's stomach knot unpleasantly at the use of her full name. "Where the hell have you been?"

Lena chuckled dryly. "Wouldn't you like to know."

"Yes, I would. You disappear all weekend, don't answer a single one of my calls or texts," Lillian accused, her voice high and strained, "then you're not at your home. I thought something had happened, that you'd been kidnapped or murdered."

"I'm sure you were _so _concerned about me, Mother," Lena said as she hopped onto the counter top in her kitchen where she'd plugged in her phone. "After all, without me to keep getting projects and be the main source of your income, how would you ever manage to maintain the lavish life to which you've become accustomed?"

Lillian was silent for a moment, and when she spoke, her voice was softer, almost sickeningly sweet. "That's not true. You know I care about you, darling."

Lena noticed Lillian said she _cared_. Not that she loved Lena. That she cared about her. Lillian had never once uttered an admittance of love towards Lena. There was a difference between caring about someone's well-being because it benefited yours and loving that person.

"That's why I flew out to National City to see you when I couldn't get a hold of you," Lillian went on when Lena didn't say anything. "I thought you were missing."

"Yeah, and you were so concerned that you forced the front desk to let you in," Lena retorted. "Yet you stopped there. If you were really worried about me wouldn't you have contacted the police or something?" Not that it was necessary or that Lena wanted that kind of attention drawn to her life, but that seemed to be a logical step for a worried mother who thought her child was missing.

Lillian clicked her tongue. "I didn't want to create a media debacle for no reason."

"Right, because that would create a bad image," Lena said sarcastically. "And everything is about my image. I can't wear what I want because it's not stylish enough. I can't take the roles I want because they wouldn't generate enough star power. I can't even fucking date because _you _think it'll be the death of my career."

"I never said you couldn't date," Lillian responded.

"Oh, I forgot, it's just women you're opposed to me dating."

She heard Lillian give a deep sigh. "I'm just looking out for what's best for you."

"No, you're looking out for what's best for _you_," Lena argued. "Regardless of what or who I want."

There was a pause, and then Lillian asked in a low voice, "Is that where you were? With some _woman_ all weekend?"

Lena's jaw tightened, and her heart hammered noisily in her chest. "That's none of your business."

"I think it is. I deserve to know where my daughter is when she goes missing—"

"Oh, stop," Lena interrupted. "I wasn't missing. I was simply ignoring you. And you did what you always do— came straight down here and invaded my home in retaliation."

"I'm your mother—"

"I'm an adult!" Lena screamed, her anger getting the better of her. "You have no right to force yourself into my life like this. It's inappropriate, and it's going to stop."

"Lena—"

"No." She jumped down from the counter, fuming as she clutched her cell phone a little too tightly. "These little unexpected trips to National City, they're done. The days of you coming into my home without my permission are over. I've changed the locks _again_, and you will not be getting a key this time."

"The front desk always gives me one," Lillian said, a hint of arrogance in her voice.

"I think you'll find if you try again, they'll be less inclined to do so," Lena informed her. "I've threatened the building manager with legal action and promised he will no longer have a job if he authorizes anyone to let you in."

"You can't do that. I'm family. I have a right to—"

"You have no rights. My name alone is on the deed. This is _my _home, and you coming in without my knowledge or consent is illegal," Lena told her, amazed at the rush she got from this new sense of power. "The front desk knows not to allow you in anymore. If you continue to come here uninvited, I will have you arrested."

Lillian hesitated for a moment. "You can't be serious."

"I'm dead serious," Lena said. "As soon as we hang up, I'm going to look into having a security system installed. You will not know any of the access codes. Even if you get a key somehow, you'll trigger the alarm on entry."

"Lena, you're being ridiculous," Lillian insisted.

"No, what's ridiculous is that I've waited this long to do this when it should have happened after the first time you barged in on me."

"How—How _dare _you?" her mother raged. "After everything I've done for you? You'd be nowhere and nothing without my guidance. I made you, you ungrateful—"

"Except you didn't, Lillian," Lena said, cutting off Lillian yet again. Sometimes that was the only way to get a word in edgewise with her.

"Didn't I?" the Luthor matriarch challenged. "I'm the one who has gotten you every single audition and role you've ever landed. Or have you forgotten?"

"Right, because that had nothing to do with my talent or who my father was," Lena said, nearly laughing bitterly.

"Those helped, but I was the main driving force trying to propel you into stardom," Lillian said.

"Did you ever stop to think that maybe that wasn't what I wanted?" Lena questioned. "That maybe I just wanted a normal, regular life with parents who actually cared about me more than how many acting credits I had to my name?" She bristled as she questioned her mother, years of keeping her anger just below the surface finally starting to rear its ugly head. "Because every audition you dragged me to, you never once asked if it was what I wanted."

"Why would I have?" Lillian shot back. "Children don't know what they want. It's up to their parents to decide what is best for them."

"But what was best for me was never a concern of yours," Lena told her, her voice hollow even to her own ears.

"Nonsense," Lillian said. "Everything I did was in your best interest."

"No, it was in yours."

A deep, long sigh from her mother. "You're welcome to think whatever you want."

"Oh, good. As long as I'm _welcome_ to," Lena said sarcastically. "And speaking of welcome, you are _not _welcome in my home. So once again, stay away, Lillian. Or else I will have you arrested."

"Lena, I'm your mother—"

"No, I'm firing you as my mother," Lena said boldly. "And you're damn lucky I'm still allowing you to be my agent and manager. But you're on thin fucking ice."

"Lena—"

"Our relationship going forward is purely business," Lena went on, enjoying the tipping in the scales. She almost wished they were having this conversation in person just so she could see the look on Lillian's face—so she could watch her squirm. "After this film I am taking a brief vacation from acting. Do not contact me with offers or auditions. I will reach out to you when I'm ready."

There was silence on Lillian's end for a moment, then she muttered darkly, "You're making a huge mistake."

"If I am, it's mine to make," Lena told her, a new hope springing to life in her chest for what felt like the first time in years. "Don't contact me. If I want to talk, I'll reach out to you."

"Lena, please be reasonable," her mother actually pleaded, and that brought a twisted smile to the brunette's face.

"This is me being reasonable." She took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a few seconds. "Bye, Lillian."

She heard more protests as she went to hang up the phone but did it anyway. Just as expected, her mother called her back right away. She hit ignore instantly. This happened three more times before Lillian apparently got the message and the device stayed silent and blank in her hand. She breathed a sigh of relief as she placed her phone back on the counter top.

But then it lit up and vibrated with a text a second later, and she jumped in surprise. Her jaw tightened with anticipation of the anger she was sure to feel if it was Lillian. However, when she picked up the phone again and looked at the name of the message's sender, her heart leaped into her throat and a smile spread across her face.

_Kara: I miss you already…_

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed the words.**


	14. Photograph

**I got some new words for the one person who reviews this. Everyone else... meh.**

* * *

Waking up was always hard for Kara, especially on Monday mornings. But that Monday when her alarm went off, the first thought to enter her mind was that the sooner she got to set the sooner she had a chance to see Lena. So, she was up and out of bed rather quickly, and was out the door much sooner than she really needed to be.

But they were filming at a restaurant downtown, and soon rush hour traffic would start, so it really didn't hurt that she was so early. By the time she arrived at set there were still scarcely any cars on the road, and Barry was able to get her parked in a sweet spot only about a block from set with no complications.

It was her first time parking the trailer downtown, and she'd been anxious about it the entire drive over. But she'd managed and was unhooking the truck in no time. Then she went inside the trailer and got the generator out so she could get power and start making coffee.

She had to take out a couple of coolers and the cart they usually put the coffee setup on to get to the coffee makers, though. It was a little difficult to do on her own, but since Barry was standing nearby and saw her struggling, he quickly came to her aid and helped her unload the heavy equipment. She was grateful for that, especially since most departments just watched the craft services team struggle.

When Sam showed up ten minutes later Kara had already brewed two pots of coffee and had more going. The brunette smiled at her boss as she walked in and put her backpack on the table.

"Good morning," Sam said cheerily, causing Kara to smile at her. "I'm happy to see you," she said, wrapping an arm around the blonde's shoulder. "I missed you."

"You _missed_ me?" Kara asked, casting a sideways glance at Sam in amazement.

"Yeah, bitch, we're friends," Sam said with a smirk and an eyeroll as she let go of Kara and gave her a playful shove.

Kara's cheeks reddened, and she looked at the ground shyly. She'd come to consider Sam a friend, and though they had a good relationship, she hadn't realized Sam considered her one as well. Not that there was any reason for her to think otherwise. But Kara was extremely self-conscious, and there had been people in her past who she'd thought were friends who turned out not to be. Sometimes it was hard for her to believe that people actually liked her instead of just pretended to. To hear Sam say she counted her as a friend made her heart warm and a happiness bubble inside her.

"Where's Nia?" Sam asked, oblivious to how much her previous statement had touched the other woman.

"She's stopping to pick up donuts," Kara said. "We're filming inside Constantine's right down the block, so at least it's not a hike today."

"Thank _god_," Sam said with a groan. "Carrying boxes back and forth is annoying as shit. Why does this man use tables instead of carts?" she asked, referring to Clark, whom Sam had still yet to meet.

"What good are carts without a ramp?" Kara countered. "It's hard enough to get out the one cart we do have."

"Well he needs to build a ramp and get more carts!" Sam threw her hands up in exasperation.

"You're preaching to the choir," Kara said with a shrug.

Sam sighed and shook her head. "Want me to go down there and start putting out trashcans?" she asked, seeming to know the conversation about the functionality of the operation was useless since Kara didn't actually own any of it to make the changes.

"Yes, please."

"Alright, bet," Sam said, reaching down and grabbing trash can liners from one of the bottom shelves.

While Sam brought the trash cans to set Kara started getting the coffee cart ready to bring. It was a standard plastic utility pushcart, nothing exceptionally fancy. It worked well enough, but the wheels sucked, and trying to push it through gravel or grass was agony. Thankfully they were in the city, so the pavement would make for easy travel, and she didn't even have far to go.

The milks, creamers, and iced coffee were kept in a cooler, which Kara drained the excess water from before putting it at the bottom of the cart to travel. She was placing the urn she'd filled with coffee on the cart as Sam came back to the trailer.

"Oliver said we should set up on the sidewalk outside of the restaurant," Sam told her. "They have an establishing shot, then they move inside. Once they're inside we can push closer."

"Cool," Kara said, though it wasn't ideal.

Outside meant heat, which meant she couldn't put out anything that would melt—like candy. Also, she liked to use a tent when they had to set up outside, but the sidewalk was never an ideal place to do that. Not to mention it was open to pedestrian traffic. And some people walking by for some fucking reason saw all this food out and seemed to think it was free for the taking. A good portion of her day was chasing off random people walking by who tried to load their pockets with gum and granola bars or stopped to make themselves a coffee.

She and Sam got the coffee cart and a couple of coolers of drinks out on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant, and by the time they got a table set up, Nia had appeared with multiple boxes of donuts. Kara immediately grabbed one of the chocolate-glazed with sprinkles when Nia set down the boxes.

"Can you let crew get to it before you attack?" Nia asked with a good-natured smirk.

"I'm crew too," Kara said around a mouthful of donut. "And I didn't have breakfast, so fuck off."

"Me either," Sam said, opening one of the boxes and selecting a jelly-filled donut.

"You two do know catering serves breakfast, right?" Nia asked, eyebrows raised.

"Catering sucks," Sam said, taking a bite of her donut, bits of raspberry jelly squirting out the sides.

Nia nodded and laughed. "I can't argue with you there. Half the crew doesn't even go to lunch. They just stay on set and make sandwiches. That's why we're going through so much bread and cold cuts." She looked to Kara. "Which reminds me—Doesn't one of us have to go to the store soon?"

Kara nodded as well and swallowed another bite of donut. "I just want to finish getting set up, then I'll send you. Can you guys do that while I run to base and stock their coolers and grab some ice to bring to set?"

"Sure, sis," Sam said, already turning to head back to the trailer and get more stuff to put out.

Nia stayed behind at the setup to keep making coffee, and Kara followed Sam back to the trailer so she could take the truck to basecamp a couple of blocks away. It wasn't far, but traffic was picking up, and she knew it was going to get annoying to have to keep driving back and forth for ice all day. But there was no room to park the ice trailer near set—she'd been lucky to get Clark's trailer down there.

She wasn't keen on driving the truck in busy traffic since it was so hard to maneuver, and she knew parking it in the tiny spot between the trailer and working truck it'd been parked between when she came back was going to be a royal pain in the ass. And while she could have sent Nia or Sam to fill the coolers, she wanted to do it herself because Lena was still at base—and she wanted any excuse to see her as soon as possible, even if she was going to be on set eventually. It hadn't even been twenty-four hours yet, and she was already going through major Lena withdrawals. It was as if Lena was a drug she'd become addicted to, and seeing her would be like taking another hit.

Unfortunately, though, call time had been seven. So by the time she was trying to get to basecamp traffic was at its worst. What should have been a three-minute drive took nearly ten, and Kara had long finished her donut by the time she was pulling into the parking lot production had bought out for the day to house base.

When she hopped out of the truck, she used the side mirror to check her appearance and wiped away bits of dried chocolate at the corners of her mouth. That was about all she could do to improve her appearance besides tuck a few loose strands of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail behind her ears. She'd considered putting on makeup that morning, but quickly nixed the idea when she remembered she'd probably sweat all of it off before lunch. And wearing cuter clothes was nice in theory—until she got grease or something on a shirt she _really _liked and effectively made it strictly a work shirt after that.

No, she was dressed in her usual basketball shorts and old t-shirt with the sleeves cut off. And the only thing that made her feel better about it was knowing that Lena already liked her, had already seen her like this and found her attractive anyway. That caused her to throw her shoulders back with slight confidence as she went into the ice trailer and grabbed a couple of bags of ice.

She carried a twenty-pound bag in each hand across the parking lot to the trailers, her muscles becoming taut with the exertion. There were two coolers at basecamp now, and thankfully the transportation drivers moved them for her each day. She was just responsible for filling them. But that also meant sometimes she didn't know where her coolers were and had to walk around base while carrying heavy bags of ice in search of them.

They were usually near the AD trailer, but she didn't know where _that _was because every basecamp was different. Thankfully it didn't take her long to find that morning, and her breathing hitched as she saw Jess and Winn standing outside the doors to the cast trailers directly across from the AD trailer. That meant Lena was right behind that trailer door, so close yet so far.

"Good morning, Kara," Jess said cheerily when Kara dropped the bags of ice on the ground next to the coolers.

"Morning, Jess… Winn," Kara said to them, smiling briefly before turning on her heel to run back to the ice trailer.

Getting ice to the coolers was only half the battle. She still needed to stock the drinks. So she went back and grabbed a couple of packages of water, stacking them atop each other to carry them back to the coolers. She'd gotten pretty strong carrying heavy stuff across long distances over the years, but she was still struggling under the weight as she got back to the trailers. It was a relief to set them down before tearing them open to dump them in the ice chests.

She was just finishing putting the ice on top of the drinks when Lena's trailer door swung open, and she looked up to see the brunette standing there in a tiny, red, strapless dress that pushed her breasts up and made them look even more incredible than Kara remembered. Her hair was down and straightened, hanging over her shoulders. She looked so fucking divine that Kara almost felt like taking off her ballcap and bowing to her. That was if she could remember how to move—or breathe—because she was too captivated by Lena to even flinch. And the smile that spread across Lena's face when she saw Kara standing there didn't help matters any, because her knees suddenly felt weak.

"Kara, hi," Lena said brightly as she carefully descended the steps to her trailer slowly, trying her best to be careful since costumes thought she absolutely _needed_ to wear stilettos in this scene, even though she'd be sitting for the majority of it. "It's good to see you. How was your weekend?"

Kara stared at her for a moment, her mind drawing a blank. Of course Lena knew how her weekend was—she'd been the center of it. Yet they were in the company of others, and they had to make it seem like they hadn't spent the majority of Saturday and Sunday getting to know the most intimate parts of each other. Kara knew this was going to be a part of their relationship, but she hadn't expected to have to dig down deep and pull out the acting and improv skills she'd almost forgotten she'd once learned.

"It was amazing," Kara said honestly, because it was. That wasn't a lie. It had been one of the best weekends of her life. "How was yours?"

"Mine was incredible," Lena said in a warm voice, giving Kara a knowing smile.

Kara returned it, a happiness spreading through her chest. While the question was part of their ruse, it still meant something. Lena wasn't just putting on a front for the sake of Winn and Jess. She genuinely wanted to know if Kara enjoyed their time together, and she wanted to let Kara know in turn that she'd enjoyed it as well. To any observer it appeared to be a normal conversation, but to them it had a hidden meaning. And something about the secrecy made it all the more special and exciting.

Their brief moment was interrupted, however, when the door to Jack's trailer opened, and Jack appeared in the doorway, giving a low whistle when he saw Lena.

"I'm one lucky man to have a costar as gorgeous as you, Ms. Luthor," Jack said with a smile as he descended the steps to his trailer.

Kara's jaw tightened, an unpleasant, familiar feeling of jealousy springing to life in her chest—one that only deepened as Lena blushed and ducked her head at the compliment.

"You're looking rather sharp yourself," the brunette responded.

Jack's wardrobe for the day basically made him look like a tan James Bond. He wore a dark suit with a white shirt and black bow tie, his hair slicked back. He was dashing and handsome, and even though Kara _knew _Lena was a lesbian, something about seeing them standing there together, complementing each other so well, made her feel incredibly small.

"We should take a photo," Jack said, pulling his phone from his pocket. "To document how brilliant we look."

"Sure," Lena said with a small nod.

"Winn, would you do the honors?" he asked, holding out his phone to his assistant.

"Sure," the small man said, taking the phone.

Jack stood next to Lena wrapped an arm around her back, placing his hand on her waist. Kara's stomach became extremely unsettled as she watched Lena place a hand on his shoulder—even if her touch was just hovering. And the smiles they had on their faces as the camera flashed made Kara want to grab the phone from Winn's hand and throw it across the parking lot. But she felt better the moment the photo was over, and Lena noticeably took several steps away from Jack and crossed her arms over her chest before sending Kara an apologetic glance.

"Here you go," Winn said, going to hand the phone back to Jack.

"Hang on," Jack said, not taking it. "Turn it to the front camera."

"Um, okay," Winn said, doing so.

"Okay, let's take one you and me," Jack said, standing behind Winn's shoulder and getting ready to pose.

"I—What?" Winn asked, flabbergasted. "Really?"

"Yes, mate. Now smile," Jack said, grabbing Winn's hand and making him hold up the phone to take the picture.

Lena smirked as they took the photo, an idea dawning on her—an opportunity, really. "Jess, do you want a photo together?" she asked her assistant.

Jess smiled. "Sure."

Lena then turned to Kara. "Mind taking it?"

"Uh, sure…" The blonde was skeptical but held out her hand when Jess offered her phone.

Lena wrapped an arm around Jess's shoulder and smiled as Kara took the photo, stepping away once it was done. Then her pulse quickened as Kara handed back the phone to Jess.

"What about you, Kara?" Lena asked the blonde. "Would you like a photo?"

Kara was stunned for a moment, her mouth opening and closing as she stood there in shock. "I—Uh—You don't have to if you don't want to," she said when she recovered. Sure, she wanted a photo of her and Lena together, but she didn't want Lena to feel obligated to take one with her just because she was offering one to someone else.

"No, I want to," Lena said with a small laugh. "That's why I offered." She pulled her phone from her pocket and handed it to Jess. "Can you take it?"

"Of course," Jess said, taking the phone.

Kara took her hat off and attempted to smooth out her hair before placing it back on her head. She knew she was going to appear dumb next to Lena, looking like she was headed to the gym while Lena looked like she was going to an awards show or something. But she wasn't going to squander an opportunity to take a photo with Lena.

She shuffled next to the actress, unsure of what to do with her hands until Lena wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to her body. Instinctively her arm snaked around Lena's waist, and her hand found its place on her hip. She smiled at the camera briefly, allowing Jess to take a photo before she looked sideways at Lena.

Her makeup was dark and smokey-eyed for the scene, and from where Kara stood, there wasn't a single flaw on her skin. Even the small scar near Lena's right eye seemed absolutely perfect. She found it hard to believe that someone so beautiful could even exist, let alone be standing next to her and have shared her bed. Then Lena turned and caught her staring, green eyes locking with blue. Normally Lena was a couple of inches shorter than Kara, but with the heels they were even, their noses so close to brushing Kara could feel Lena's breath.

Then in an instant she remembered where they were, that there were multiple pairs of eyes on them, and Lena seemed to make that same realization just a second later. They broke apart, each eyeing the ground bashfully as their faces went red. Jess wordlessly handed Lena her phone back, who took it and cleared her throat.

"I'll text you the picture," Lena muttered to the ground. "I think I still have your number." She dared to look up in time to see Kara nod.

"Thanks," the blonde murmured, kicking at a rock on the ground as she awkwardly put her hands in the pockets of her shorts. "Well, I'll see you all at set," she said, glancing at everyone, her eyes hovering on Lena the longest.

"Kara, did you want a photo with me?" Jack asked pleasantly.

Kara smiled politely. "I do, but I really have to get back to set. Maybe later?"

"Absolutely. I'll track you down," Jack said, giving her a playful grin. "We'll get you that photo, my darling."

Lena shook her head in amazement as Kara walked back across the parking lot to the truck and ice trailer. She didn't often offer to take photos with crew members—most of the time the thought never crossed her mind. And she didn't know many of her costars to go out of their way to offer photos. Yet Jack seemed to enjoy it and was even asking Winn for his Instagram handle so he could tag him when he posted the photo. Then he was offering Jess a picture and to do the same for her, and Lena was baffled by him. Who was this guy? Why was he so nice?

* * *

"How'd your photos with Kara come out?" Jack asked when they were left alone while Winn and Jess went to grab the cars to pull around to bring them to set.

"I hadn't even checked yet," Lena said, suddenly remembering them and anxious to see.

She unlocked her phone and went to her photos, expecting to see just one of her and Kara together, but there were multiple. The first was just them standing next to each other, both smiling at the camera for show. Lena had to admit, even with the contrasting outfits, they did look good standing next to each other. There was something about the way her body fit into the side of Kara's that just seemed right to her.

She scrolled to the next picture, which was similar except for one thing—Kara was no longer looking at the camera. Instead, she was looking at Lena, with such amazement and awe on her face that Lena's heart flooded with an unfamiliar warmth. She couldn't remember anyone looking at her that way, ever. And the next photo was the moment later, when she looked back at Kara and locked eyes with her.

It was such a surprising, unexpected moment that Lena forgot to put on a mask, forgot to hide what she was feeling. And Jess had managed to capture the moment Lena looked back at Kara with just as much affection and wonder. It was so sweet, and maybe it should have bothered her that Jess had witnessed the moment and, but the photo made her too happy to care. However, she did make a mental note that they'd have to be more careful going forward, even as she sent all three photos to Kara.

"Well?" Jack asked when Lena didn't say anything. "Turn out alright?"

"Yes, they're great," Lena said, careful not to meet his eye.

"Good," Jack said, his voice cheery. "She's just lovely, isn't she?"

Lena looked at him in surprise, her eyebrows raised. "Who, Kara?" Jack nodded and gave her a small smile, causing Lena to blush and look away. "Yes, she is. She's very…" she paused to swallow, trying to pick her next word carefully, "sweet."

"Yes, very sweet," Jack said, and Lena could feel his eyes still on her.

It was as if he was fishing for something, like he was studying her for a reaction. And not even in a malicious way. It was as if he was… Genuinely interested. Yet she couldn't fathom why, and thankfully she didn't have much time to dwell on it because a moment later Jess had pulled up with the car, and she climbed in the passenger's seat as Winn pulled up alongside them with Jack's vehicle.

Okay, so maybe Jess hadn't been the only one to notice her millisecond of a moment with Kara. But from what she could tell Jack wasn't repulsed by it, so maybe there wasn't reason to be concerned. After all, he was a celebrity, too. If anything, he understood discretion. Yet maybe he hadn't noticed anything at all and was just making conversation. And even if he had and confronted her about it, she could easily deny everything. She was good at that. Yet the thing was, if faced with that moment, she didn't know if she could—didn't know if she _wanted _to.

* * *

Kara didn't have time to check her phone until after the first pass around was done. She'd sent Nia to the store and kept Sam on set while she scraped together something with what they had on-hand. Thankfully she was getting better at thinking on the fly, and she was able to throw together cups with fruit, granola, yogurt, and a drizzle of honey. She even found some vegan yogurt made with coconut milk and did a vegan version with agave instead of honey.

They didn't take long to make and were a huge hit, people enjoying something light and refreshing in the early morning heat. Kara was feeling pretty good about herself when she got back to the trailer to start cleaning up the mess she'd made when preparing the pass.

It wasn't until she went to hook her phone up to the radio that she remembered to check the text Lena had sent her. Upon seeing the photos, her heart fluttered erratically in her chest. Lena looked absolutely stunning, makeup and wardrobe having already gotten to her to make her look immaculate for filming. Kara, on the other hand, looked like just a random person who'd stopped her for a photo on the street. She looked so out of place next to Lena, yet something about the way Lena was looking at her in the last photo quieted her insecurities.

She loved that photo, and she sat there staring at it for a few moments, hardly believing it existed. She loved it so much she wanted to make it her lock screen, but she knew that wasn't something she could do. Even making it the background on her phone was too risky. She simply saved them into the memory of her device so she could go back and look at them later.

She was about to start the music so she could start cleaning when her phone started ringing in her hands, Clark's name flashing across the screen.

"Hey, Clark," she answered, pressing the phone to her ear and cradling it in her neck as she gathered the cutting board and knife she'd used to cut the fruit and put them in the sink in the back of the trailer.

"Hey, buddy, how's it going?" Clark asked in a cheerful voice.

"Good," Kara said, going back to the front of the trailer and grabbing a package of wet wipes so she could wipe down the prep table. "I just made some fruit and yogurt parfaits as our first pass, and people loved them."

"Nice," Clark said. "Sounds tasty."

"Yeah, well, I wanted to use what we had on-hand," Kara said, her anxiety spiking slightly. She tried to shove it down as she grabbed hold of her phone and pressed it to her other ear. "Nia's at the store getting more stuff right now, but we're spending so much on just regular supplies that there hasn't been much leftover for pass-arounds."

"What do you mean?" Clark asked, instantly sounding worried. "How much are you spending?"

Kara let out a long sigh, wiping the prep table down as she said, "Clark, honestly, I don't even know, dude. I'm just buying what we need to get by."

"Well have you been turning in receipts?"

"Yes, every day," Kara told him.

"So you should know how much you've spent, then," Clark responded. "Aren't you writing down the amounts of all the petty cash and credit card envelopes you've turned in?"

Kara hadn't been, but she'd taken a picture of everything she'd turned in, so it was just a matter of going through her phone. "I haven't added it all up yet."

"Well, take some time and add it all up. When you know how much you've spent, just text me the amount," Clark said.

"Okay," Kara said, her anxiety instantly surging again. Sure, she didn't know how much they were spending, but she knew it was bad. They were spending nearly double their daily budget on drinks and ice alone, but that was literally what it took just to make it through the day. She didn't know how much they spent yet because she didn't _want _to know.

"It doesn't have to be today," Clark said, sensing her unease. "Just make it a goal to sit down and figure that out by no later than Wednesday. Okay?"

Kara blew out a breath, her shoulders easing a little at the small leeway he'd given her. "Okay, I'll try."

"Good," Clark said, and then she heard the loud wail of a baby on the other end. "Uh-oh, sounds like Johnny needs a change." Then in a baby voice he said, "Huh, Johnny? Do you need a change, bud?"

"Alright, when you start the baby-talk, that's my cue to get back to work," Kara said in a joking manner.

"Ha, yeah, probably," Clark said. "Work on that when you get a chance, though."

"I got it," Kara said, fighting the urge to roll her eyes at having been told twice. She'd heard him loud and clear the first time.

When they hung up Kara expected to feel better, but she was still on edge knowing she would have to tally up every penny they'd spent so far and report back to Clark. Part of being in charge was managing the budget, and she knew in that aspect she was failing miserably. But what was she supposed to do? Let people die of thirst? Stop buying ice and give everyone hot water? No, that wasn't possible. She couldn't exactly stop buying food, either. People still needed to eat.

Yet even with all the money they'd spent thus far, when she looked around the trailer, there was hardly anything left from the week before. Nia's shopping trip was meant to restock them, but even hundreds of dollars worth of groceries only lasted a couple of days at most. They were so far in the hole that it would take not buying _anything_ else for the rest of the week just to get back on track—Kara didn't have to crunch the numbers to know that. Yet the catch was that they always had to spend money, money they didn't have.

Kara dreaded finally sitting down and figuring out the actual number. Because it was going to be way in the red, thus proving that Kara had fucked up exponentially when it came to the budget. And that was one of the fundamental duties of being a key. Yet she'd been unable to keep that on track, and it was only the start of week three. They still had five more to go.

She was royally fucked.

* * *

**thanks have a nice day**


	15. Money

**I went back to work, so sorry the updates stopped coming as frequently.**

**As always I own nothing.**

* * *

Kara didn't get much opportunity to sit down and figure out the budget. While there was less chaos in her days since hiring Sam, that didn't mean things were completely calm.

Tuesday they'd ended up having about fifty background actors on set. She had Sam mostly maintaining their setup, but they went through stuff so fast that by lunch she had to send Nia to the store just so they wouldn't be completely boned at the start of Wednesday.

Then on Wednesday they had a company move halfway through the day. Those were always tough. They had to go in and set up, and then once they were done filming at the location, pack up and move to the next one. So, basically, it was like two days packed into one because they had to load and unload multiple times. It was more difficult than it needed to be because of Clark's equipment, she knew that.

Sam had worked with other crafty companies, and she told Kara what their operations were like. Everything was on carts, so they were completely mobile, and the trailers the other companies had were much nicer—and they had ramps to make everything easier. Every time Kara packed up snacks into a box so she could carry it back to the trailer she thought how nice it would be to just grab a cart as it was and push it back instead of spending ten minutes breaking down a table, and then an additional ten or so transporting it all back and forth. But she didn't see Clark making upgrades any time soon.

But since that took so much time they were completely slammed, and when Clark called her to ask why she hadn't sent over the budget, she was so busy she didn't even feel her phone vibrating in her pocket. She had to text him that the past couple of days had been a little too chaotic, and that she would get those numbers to him on Thursday.

So, on Thursday she was happy that they were going to be at a soundstage. Those days were always easier. She was able to park the trailer close to the building, and getting everything inside was relatively simple. And being inside meant air conditioning, meaning she would be going through exponentially less water and ice. Plus, she was able to have the ice trailer parked right near hers, and that meant she could actually have the ice trailer hooked up to power. Normally it was at basecamp, and it just sat there in the sun baking so that all the drinks inside were hot and the ice melted so quickly that she had to buy extra just to accommodate. But when it was plugged in the cooling system would actually work, and that would make her life infinitely easier.

Not to mention everything was in one place that day. She didn't have to drive a mile away to stock basecamp coolers. They were fifty yards from her own trailer. It was going to be an easy day, and they were there the next day as well. That meant it was a walk-away. They would simply clean up and drain and stock the coolers for the next day, then roll out and come in the next day completely set up. Which was great, because they still weren't being given a pre-call, and it was definitely screwing them over on a daily basis.

But that Thursday setting up was a breeze, and she was in the trailer working on the first pass-around not even an hour after call while the girls took care of set. It was easy enough, just a pesto-pasta salad with fresh veggies. The thing that took the longest was getting the water to boil for the pasta, but once that was rolling, she was flying. And thankfully the crew loved it. The first round she did was gone within seconds, and then she was running back to the trailer to cup up more.

After that things honestly started to move pretty slowly for them. People weren't out in the heat, so they weren't going through water nearly as fast, just as she expected. And for once, hot coffee was more popular than iced coffee. Really that was all that needed to be done on set besides stocking something every now and then. It was getting close to lunch, so people were about to be fed a full meal. Sam had set handled, and Nia had gone to the trailer to clean and organize.

It was one of those rare days when things were going right, and she felt like she was able to take a step back for a moment because she didn't feel like she was constantly playing catchup. So, she grabbed her backpack with her laptop from the front seat of the truck and went inside to find a quiet place to go over the budget.

Thankfully the soundstage had its own WiFi, and she'd done shows there before, so her laptop connected to the network automatically. She instantly set up music and plugged in her headphones so she wouldn't blow a take once they started rolling again, for some reason not able to concentrate without something blasting in her ear besides the walkie chatter or the crew moving around her.

She logged into the account for the credit card and entered the few receipts she had and finalized those so that she could add it to the ever-growing running total she had to send to Clark. Then she set to work with going through the photos on her phone, checking every credit card and petty cash cover sheet and writing down the totals. Then she added the ice purchase orders, winching at the amounts over the past three weeks and couple of days.

After she set about adding up the totals. With every number she typed in, her heart grew heavier and heavier. With the budget they had, they really only should have spent around $9,000 thus far. But $9,000 came and went only halfway through, and when she landed on her final total of over $17,000, she had to take a moment to stare blankly at the number on her phone as panic settled deep in the pit on her stomach.

She had the urge to yell, "Fuck!" as loudly as she possibly could, but she was still on set, and they were in the middle of a scene. Instead she quietly closed her laptop and slid it back into her backpack. She waited until they called cut to slip out the front door and go back to the truck to put her bag back inside. But she still felt panicky and wound up, so she went to the ice trailer and pulled open the door.

A blast of cold air hit her, and she climbed into the refreshing chill. Not all ice trailers were the same. Some had two compartments, one side that held drinks, and another that held the ice. Others were all one unit, just with a door in the back and a walkway along the inside that allowed a person to climb inside. This was one of those, thankfully, so Kara climbed into the portable freezer and closed the door just enough so that a crack of light poured through. She was worried for a second about getting locked inside, but even if she did, she realized she wouldn't have minded because she would have gotten a break, and she had her phone to call for help.

The whir of the freezer unit was loud, but not obnoxious. It was actually almost calming, like the white noise machine she used to help her fall asleep before it broke and she never bothered to buy a new one. Not to mention the coolness of the dark, cramped, freezer was a welcome contrast to the heat outside. While they were filming in the sound stage, she still had to run back and forth to the trailer, and even those brief periods outside were too long.

It was nice, taking a moment to cool off and be in peace, even if just for a second. She used the flashlight function on her phone to look around the trailer at their stock. They had a good bit of water, LaCroix, and Gatorade, but she knew how quickly her crew would deplete the stash. There was nearly $800 of drinks and ice in the trailer, yet she knew she would have to buy at least $500 for the next day, and that was pretty much their entire daily budget right there.

She didn't know what to do, but she hoped Clark would. And she also hoped he wouldn't be angry she'd let things get so out of hand. But the only way to know was to call him. So, she begrudgingly opened the door to the trailer and walked back out into the blinding sun.

"Good morning," Clark said in greeting when he answered her call. "How's it going?"

"I'm fucked," was all she said.

Clark was silent for a moment, then in a worried voice said, "What do you mean?"

"Clark, we've spent over $17,000 so far," she said, her own voice high and strained.

"_What_?" Clark asked incredulously. "How?"

"Water and drinks," Kara said flatly. "I'm spending almost double the daily budget on those things alone."

"What the hell?" he asked, then again he asked, "How?"

"Dude, that's just what it takes," Kara told him. "We get this huge order in the morning, and by the end of the day, it's almost all gone."

"What are you buying from them?"

"The usual stuff: water, ice, LaCroix, Gatorade." She walked over to Clark's trailer and poked her head inside, finding it neat and tidy with Nia nowhere in sight. She breathed a sigh of relief at that. At least that was one thing she didn't have to worry about, her crew doing what they needed to do.

"There's your problem right there," Clark said in a matter-of-fact tone. "LaCroix and Gatorade are expensive. Start by not buying that anymore."

Kara was silent, then hesitantly said, "Clark, I _can't_. Those things are more popular than bottled water and soda half the time." She walked into the trailer and leaned against the prep table, standing directly in the line of the pathetic wisps of air from the trailer's ancient AC unit.

"Yeah, but they're not necessary," Clark shot back, though not in a harsh tone. "And just stop shopping for a couple of days. Use what you have on-hand."

"We barely have anything, though," Kara said. "We're going through shit like crazy. Seriously, it's unreal. We can't stop shopping all together. We still need things."

"Well, just buy cheaper stuff. Off-brand everything. Peanuts and pretzels instead of almonds and dried fruit. No more sandwich meat. If people want sandwiches, they can make peanut butter and jelly."

These were not the answers Kara was hoping for. These weren't solutions, at least not ones that would work. "Clark, no one's going to be happy. They don't want that crap. They want name-brand, and they want good, healthy snacks. That's what we're going through to most of—the dried fruit, granola, fancy nuts. You know what film people are like. They're spoiled as fuck. And they hate catering, so we're going through sandwich stuff at lightning speed."

"Well you can't do that anymore. Not on a lower budget show like this," Clark tried to reason.

"But this isn't a lower budget show," Kara said. "It's area standard. We're literally making top dollar. There's a budget, it's just not going to us. And that's the problem. People are expecting area standard crafty, but we're trying to operate on an indie budget."

"That's the budget we got," Clark said with an air of indifference. It was crazy how he could go from concerned to not giving a fuck at the drop of a hat. "You're the key, you gotta try to make it work."

"Yeah, but if I try the way you're proposing, no one's gonna be happy," Kara said. And she already knew the AD staff weren't her biggest fans. Plus she'd gone way over budget, so no doubt the higher ups wouldn't be happy about it. Then she had to add insult to injury by delivering shittier food? Clark was going to get them fired. "People really like what we've been putting out. I'd hate for that to change. I at least want people to be happy."

"Well, maybe you can start buying nicer stuff again if you get things back on track, but for now this is what you have to do," Clark said, a hint of finality in his voice. "Copy?"

Kara's jaw tightened, but she answered with a hollow, "Copy."

"Other than that, is everything okay?" Clark asked, his mood already sounding like it was lifting. Kara, on the other hand, felt her spirits sinking lower and lower by the second.

"Yeah, it's good. Sam's been a great addition to the team, and people like the food we've been putting out," she told him, finally pushing off the prep table and walking to the back of the trailer, staring into the empty sinks. "I don't know what I'll pass now, though."

"Easy, cheap stuff. Pop some popcorn and pass that around, inexpensive things like that."

Popcorn? Really? That wasn't a pass-around. That was something they put in a bowl on one of the tables to add stuff to it. Not as a substantial snack for crew. But she just swallowed her complaints and grumbled a low, "Copy."

"You can do it," Clark said. "Just budget better, okay?"

"Yeah, sure," Kara said, her shoulders sagging and her dread curling in her stomach. This conversation had been the exact opposite of helpful.

When they hung up, Kara hanged her head and closed her eyes, took off her hat, and leaned onto the sink, gripping the rim tightly. She took in deep breaths to calm herself, to try to push down the anxiety that threatened to overwhelm her. She tried to clear her head, to focus on the roar of the generator motor outside or the low hum of the trailer AC. She counted to ten in her head, then did it again, and again.

She was so focused on not freaking out that she didn't notice someone had walked into the trailer, didn't realize there was someone walking towards her until she heard a soft, tentative, "Kara?"

The blonde jumped slightly, her pulse racing as her brain automatically recognized the source of that voice. Even though she was still on edge, a smile instantly made its way to her face as she turned to see Lena standing there with a question in her eyes and concern etched across her features.

She was wearing a black dress and yet another pair of heels, once again making Kara feel inadequate with how gorgeous she looked. Whoever did Lena's hair and makeup were geniuses, because they always somehow made her look more stunning than normal. Today her makeup was dark and smokey, and her hair was in waves cascading down her back. She looked so beautiful Kara momentarily forgot all of her problems, because all she could think about was how good Lena looked in that dress, but how much better she would look _out _of it.

"Are you okay?" Lena asked, clasping her hands in front of her and pulling nervously at her fingers.

"I am now that you're here," Kara responded, the corners of her mouth lifting into a smile again. "Hang on." She ducked around Lena and went to the door of the trailer, grabbing it and pulling it closed. There was a latch on the inside, and Kara slid it into place. She _never _locked the door to the trailer, but she wanted to be safe when it came to Lena, not sorry. "I do need a hug, though."

Lena gave a small smirk as she crossed the trailer before wrapping her arms around Kara's neck. The blonde's arms went to her waist, snaking around it and pulling her in for a near bone-crushing hug. They stayed there for a moment, wrapped up in each other until Lena pulled away slightly, her hands going to Kara's cheeks and cupping them sweetly.

"I think this is the most I've seen you since we took our photo together Monday," Lena said, biting her lip briefly.

"I know," Kara said with a groan, dropping her forehead to Lena's. "I'm sorry. It's been crazy."

Lena leaned back and snorted. "Kara, don't _apologize_. You were doing your job. We were _both_ doing our jobs." She finally took a step back, out of Kara's arms, but she made sure to grab hold of her hand instead. "Honestly, this is the first chance _I've _had to step away since that morning. The only reason I do now is because they didn't need me until ten, and then I got ready, and I've just been told they're running behind and it'll be another forty-five minutes before they're ready for me on set, if they get to my first scene before lunch at all." She shrugged. "So I had a little downtime, and I figured seeing you was more interesting than sitting in my trailer by myself." She blushed briefly, realizing she'd picked up Kara's habit of talking too much when she was nervous—and she was _always_ at least a little nervous around Kara. "Sorry," she muttered shyly. "Now I'm the one rambling for a change."

"It's fine," Kara said with a small laugh. "For what it's worth, I'm glad you stopped by." She squeezed Lena's hand, looking down at their intertwined fingers. She thought about telling Lena that she'd been missing her the past couple of days, but she was afraid to do so. After all, they'd seen each other in passing. It wasn't like they'd had no contact. Besides, it had only been a couple of days since their last interaction. Admitting to missing her would possibly be coming on too strong, and she didn't want to do that—didn't want to scare off the actress. So instead she said, "I needed the distraction."

Lena narrowed her eyes slightly, regarding the blonde carefully. "What's going on?"

Kara sighed and looked up again, locking eyes with Lena. "We have no fucking money."

"What do you mean?" Lena's brow furrowed with confusion.

"I mean the budget for craft services is a joke, and I'm spending nearly three times that a day, basically because of drinks and ice, and now my boss wants me to stop buying LaCroix and Gatorade to compensate. But that's what people are drinking the most of, so there's no way I can do that without pissing people off. And certain people on crew hate me already, so I don't want the _whole _crew to hate me, too," she rattled off, barely taking time to pause for breath. "And that's not even counting the food, which is expensive as fuck, too, because everyone on set apparently has expensive taste. It's like at this point I have to choose whether or not I'm going to feed people or hydrate them, and even if I cut one of those completely, I'm still in the hole." The blonde began shaking her head fiercely, her ponytail swinging behind her. "I don't know how we're going to make it to the end of the show when our whole budget's almost gone."

Lena shook her head as well, flabbergasted. "That's ridiculous. You can't stop buying things. Your setup has looked amazing. There's so much variety, and your pass-arounds have been delicious. These things obviously take money. Why are they not giving it to you?"

It didn't make any sense. This was the highest-paying role Lena had ever landed, so obviously there was money _somewhere_. To her it seemed her salary was unnecessarily high, especially considering she was already rich. Why did she have to make so much if it meant departments would have so little?

"I wish I knew," Kara said, finally removing her hand from Lena's to throw both of hers up in exasperation. "But I seriously don't know what to do." She set them down at her sides and shrugged, her face falling.

Lena didn't know what to tell her. She had no idea, either. But surely there was some solution, somewhere. She was about to tell Kara so, to wrap her arms around her again and hold her close and promise her everything would be okay. However, the handle of the trailer door jiggling and someone struggling to open it got both of their attentions, and Kara rushed to unlock it.

When it swung open, Nia walked in, frowning deeply. "What the hell is wrong with the door?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I dunno, guess it got stuck," Kara said innocently, and Lena was impressed at her ability to lie so easily. "You know how shitty this trailer is. I'm surprised the whole door hasn't fallen off yet."

"Amen," Nia said, rolling her eyes, then looked around Kara and suddenly noticed Lena. "Oh, uh, hi," she said hesitantly, her eyes wide when she realized cast was in the trailer. "Did you need anything?"

Lena quickly shook her head. "No, I was just leaving, actually," she said, ducking her head to hide her blush. "Goodbye," she told Kara quietly before scurrying out the door as quickly as she could on her heels.

Kara's shoulders instantly fell once she was gone, the anxiety back once again with Lena no longer around to distract her from it.

"Should I go shopping now?" Nia asked, only causing the anxiety to spike.

"We can't go shopping," Kara said, a tightness forming in her chest.

"Why not?" Nia asked, obviously confused.

"Because, Nia," Kara said, ready to launch into the spiel again, "we fucked the budget."

* * *

When Lena got to set, she went straight to video village. That's where the director's chair was set up, along with producers and such. There were a couple of producers on set with them regularly, Harrison "Harry" Wells and Morgan Edge. She'd barely spoken to either of them, and she didn't know if they'd be open to talking money with her. But she had to try. She was going to try. Until she saw the UPM walk up and decided he was a better option. He was open, way more friendly. She intercepted him before he got to the village.

"Got a minute?" she asked J'onn.

He nodded. "Sure, what's up?"

"So, I was just wondering… if there's a reason crafty's budget is so low," she said slowly, carefully. She didn't want to overstep or get Kara in trouble, but she also knew that if she pushed for something it was more likely to happen. After all, one of the benefits of being a star was that people listened to her.

"That's what the producers wanted to spend on crafty," J'onn said, letting out a deep sigh. The look on his face told him he knew this had been coming. "It's not enough, is it?"

Lena shook her head a little. "No, not really. I mean, you've seen the spread they've been putting out. Does it look cheap?"

"No, it looks amazing," J'onn said as an answer. "I figured they were over, but everyone's been pretty happy, so I haven't worried too much." He searched her face for a moment, obviously curious why she had a sudden interest in craft service's budget. "Do you know something I don't?"

Lena froze for a second, realizing she had to choose her words carefully. "Kara and I have become friendly, and she just mentioned in passing she was concerned about the budget, so I was wondering." She shifted her weight awkwardly from foot to foot, her face growing hot. How was it that she was an actress, that she lived a lie every day, yet telling this particular lie made her feel like she had a spotlight on her?

"I don't get why these guys don't want to pay for anything," J'onn muttered, keeping his voice low as his dark eyes glanced at the two producers, sitting in their chairs with—wouldn't you know it—LaCroix's in their hands. "It's not like there's no money. There's tons of money, they're just not wanting to spend it." He put his hands on his hips and shook his head. "I'll talk to them, see what I can do."

"I'll speak up myself if I have to," Lena said honestly. "Maybe they'll listen if it comes from me." She crossed her arms over her chest, but not too tightly as to wrinkle her wardrobe. "Kara… and the other girls… have just been doing such a great job. I would hate for them to not be able to deliver to the best of their abilities simply because they don't have the money. If I have to put up some myself—"

"Lena, no," J'onn said, stopping her quickly. "There _is _money. Harry and Morgan are just being stingy with it. I'll see if I can get them to loosen their grip on some of it."

"Great," Lena said, smiling at him appreciatively.

She hoped he could figure it out with them, hoped they would agree to give crafty more money without her saying another word about it. Because the less she involved herself with Kara's affairs the better. She knew that, but she couldn't just sit idly by and let Kara drown, either. And no, Kara hadn't _asked _for her help, but she didn't need to. Lena didn't even offer it, simply gave without a second thought. But she really, really hoped this would be the end of her involvement. Because as much as she wanted to help Kara, she didn't want _Kara _to know about it. She didn't know how the blonde would respond to her meddling, whether she'd be appreciative or angry for getting J'onn involved. No, it was better if she didn't integrate herself anymore.

But dammit, she knew she would if she had to.

* * *

As the twelfth hour approached Kara began to get nervous. They'd be owing second meal soon, and Lena had said they'd been behind schedule. That meant the probability of them doing it was very high. And while that technically didn't come out of their budget, it still was paid for on their card. And obviously money was stretched too thinly to go out and buy over $600 worth of food. So, she needed them to wrap, and she needed them to do it soon.

She was putting the dishes away that she'd washed from their second pass-around when J'onn walked into the trailer. Kara immediately froze when she saw him, her heart dropping to her stomach.

"Second meal?" she asked weakly, trying not to sound too displeased with the idea.

"No, we're going to wrap in the next forty-five minutes," J'onn told her with a soft smile. "So don't worry about that."

"Oh, okay," Kara said, her shoulders sagging with relief. "So, what's up, then? Can I get something for you?"

"No, I just wanted to talk to you about the budget," he answered, crossing his arms over his chest. "I heard you're a little over."

Kara's jaw tightened involuntarily, and she became guarded. "Um, just, like… Almost double." She winced, waiting for the anger to come from her superior.

But he was more stunned than anything. "Really?"

"It's the heat, J'onn," Kara said, a little too defensively. "Keeping people hydrated is really expensive."

"I know, I know," J'onn said softly. "That's not your fault. You weren't given what you needed to succeed financially."

"I—" Kara stared at him for a moment, taken aback. "Thank you."

J'onn gave another smile. "I've talked to producers, and they've agreed to do whatever it takes to keep crew happy." He looked to her pointedly, almost proudly. "They love what you've been putting out and didn't want it to go away. So, don't go crazy, but keep getting what you need and don't worry about the money. Okay?"

Kara blinked a few times, almost certain she'd heard him wrong. "I—uh, okay. Yes, sir."

The moment he was out of the trailer Kara dashed to set, rounding up Nia and Sam and dragging them outside to the back of the building.

"What the fuck, dude?" Sam asked. "What's got you so hype? We're broke, remember?" She rolled her eyes, still bitter from when Kara had told her the news at lunch.

"Not anymore," Kara said, beaming from ear to ear. "I just talked to J'onn, and apparently producers finally agreed to give us more money. He told us to get whatever we need to keep things going like we have been."

Nia's eyes brightened. "You mean—"

"I'm sending you shopping first thing in the morning, and you can go nuts—within reason," Kara finished for her.

"How the fuck did this happen?" Sam asked, though she was smiling.

"No idea, not gonna question it," Kara said with a shrug of her shoulders. She pulled her phone from her pocket and smirked at the girls. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm about to order a fuck ton of drinks and ice—Gatorade and LaCroix included."

"Yeah, suck it, _Clark_," Sam said loudly, holding up a hand for Nia to high five, and the brunette happily returned it.

Kara glanced back at them chatting happily about all the stuff Nia was going to buy the next day as she walked away to concentrate on the order. She walked into this show having nothing, and now she had everything. She had basically a bottomless budget and a solid team supporting her. And she had Lena, to top everything off.

She didn't know how this had suddenly become her life, a life where things actually went right, and she didn't constantly feel like she was in a tailspin. Because that was the exact opposite of how she'd been three weeks prior. But for once she didn't want to question the good things in her life, or wait for them to come to a catastrophic end. For once she just wanted to enjoy the happiness—the hope—for as long as she could.

* * *

**Clark means well but is terribly misguided. Until next time.**

**DF**


	16. Homies

**How's everyone's quarantine going? Stay safe.**

* * *

Friday morning, true to her word, Kara sent Nia shopping almost the moment they arrived on set. Since everything was still set up from the day before, they were up and running at full capacity not even twenty minutes after call. Sam stayed on set making sure everything stayed beautiful, Nia hit the store, and Kara worked on a little paperwork while things were still calm.

Nia showed up about a half hour later with just the stuff Kara needed to make the pass-around, handed the groceries off to her, then went back to the store for the rest of the groceries they needed.

Kara made frittatas for the morning snack, and people loved them. Even Andrea asked for a second piece, and that made Kara feel good.

So far, the cast had been great—for the most part, that was. Jack was delightful to be around, always took what Kara offered him, and made sure he found her later to tell her how much he enjoyed it. Eddie Thawne, while not nearly as kind, was still a gentleman. When he didn't want something he politely declined, and when he did take something, he always said thank you. And Lena—well, of course Kara thought _she _was amazing, but she was also biased.

Yet there always had to be one member of cast who had to be a little…_Extra_. On this show it was Andrea Rojas. She was never satisfied with _anything_. Kara learned from the caterers that Andrea sent back her breakfast order every morning, often multiple times on the same day. She was also a vegetarian, which wasn't a problem. Kara always made sure she had a vegetarian option with the pass-around if it wasn't already vegetarian to begin with. But Andrea didn't always _like_ what Kara was passing around. She would demand Kara make her a special snack all her own. It started out easy enough, stuff like a plate with veggies and hummus or a cup of veggie soup from a can. But then she started getting more demanding, wanting an omelet or a sandwich or some other thing that forced Kara to stop what she was doing—stop feeding the _whole crew_—just to go run and make something special for Andrea. Because even though Kara had a vegetarian option ready for her, it was never good enough.

It began as mildly annoying, escalating quickly into just fucking obnoxious. Kara went from somewhat disliking Andrea to full-blown hating her by the end of week three. Every time she wrinkled her nose at something Kara tried to give her, the blonde's shoulders fell. Because she knew in a couple of minutes, she was going to be called to channel two by a PA—probably the increasingly irritating Eve—and be asked to make something for Andrea. And yeah, that was her job, to feed people. But Andrea didn't have to make it so fucking difficult.

She was also one of those people who was sickeningly sweet to your face but would talk shit the moment your back was turned. Andrea never once said a harsh word _to _Kara. She would just do that stupid nose wrinkle thing, look up at Kara from her seat with a head shake, and say, "No thank you," in an overly chipper voice… And Kara would get the order a couple of minutes later.

Then Mike told her Andrea said her food needs weren't being met, and she almost lost it. She'd been bending over backwards to try to please the actress, and she wasn't even one of the stars. If this was Lena or Jack asking it would have been different. They were the leads. They had every right to be demanding. But they _weren't_. That was the fucking point. If the main characters weren't asking her for shit, where did this minor character get off acting like she was a gift from the heavens? She needed to fucking chill.

Which was why Kara was so happy when she was not only satisfied with the frittata, but apparently enjoyed it. That kept her mood from dropping, and a moment later it only got better because then she got to Lena's chair. The brunette gave her a fond smile as Kara handed her the plate, and she made sure that their fingers brushed and lingered a moment too long when she grabbed it.

Then once the pass-around was done she got back to the trailer to see Nia had returned with a whole carload of groceries, and she breathed a sigh of relief. While the tables were stocked completely, they hadn't had any back stock. So, if they ran out of something, they were going to just be _out_. And if someone asked where something was, "We don't have any," wasn't the answer she'd been taught to give.

They were able to put away everything neatly, and then Nia shooed Kara out of the trailer so she could get some cleaning done without the blonde in the way or slowing her down. Kara didn't argue because if she didn't have to clean, she was happy with that. Instead she grabbed some of the new snacks Nia had bought and brought them to set. Sam was at the setup, pouring some coffee into one of the air pots when Kara walked up with the box of goodies.

"Please tell me there's gum in there," Sam said, glancing over her shoulder as Kara set down the box. "The basket was full this morning, but we're almost out."

"People need to _stop _taking whole packs and sticking them in their pockets," Kara told her, but she pulled out a few packs of gum from the box regardless and held them up to show her coworker. "But that's never gonna happen, so thankfully, Nia's smart and got more."

"You need to send me shopping next time," Sam said with a whine, setting the glass carafe back in its place. "I wanna leave set, too, sometimes."

"Sam, you drive a VW bug," Kara said, frowning. "And you have your daughter's car seat in the backseat. The fuck you gonna fit in that?"

Sam narrowed her eyes. "Shut up, bitch."

Kara laughed out loud until they called out that they were rolling, the bell rang, and she was literally forced to be quiet in order to not blow the take.

* * *

Despite the way Kara and Sam spoke to each other, their friendship was growing every day. Their insults were never serious, the deliverance of them always playful. As the weeks wore on, they fell into an easy rhythm. While Nia usually skipped lunch, Kara and Sam always made sure to go together. Honestly, they did most things together if they could.

Nia was a little more independent, roaming wherever she did—half the time Kara honestly had no idea where she was—but Sam stuck to Kara like glue when she could. And while when Siobhan wanting to do everything together was irritating because it slowed her down, that wasn't the case with Sam. They didn't need to divide and conquer just to barely keep their heads afloat. Things were going so well that they could do everything together. And Kara had to admit, making coffee and filling coolers was a lot more fun when she had someone there with her to shoot the shit.

After lunch once things slowed down, Nia stayed on set while Sam went back to the trailer to help Kara. While the blonde started on the next pass-around to get ahead of the game, Sam went to work emptying out the fridge and packing its contents into coolers so that they could be ready to move the trailer at the end of the day. The location for the following Monday was a grocery store about a ten-minute drive from Kara's house—which was great for her commute, but it sucked that they had to move again.

Kara had decided to do a chicken noodle soup, having made sure to tell Nia to pick up a couple of the precooked rotisserie chickens from the store to make it easier. As Sam cleaned, Kara put on a pair of gloves and broke down the chicken while the chicken stock she set on the stove heated. She also chopped up carrots, onions, garlic, and celery to add to the mix. Once the stock was at a rolling boil, she added everything to the pot, seasoned it, and put the lid on so it could cook. Then she made a similar one without chicken, using veggie stock instead. She also added some beans for protein, and if Andrea didn't want it, Kara knew it would take everything in her not to throw it in her face. She'd been eating veggie soup that came from a _can_. If she didn't like her homemade one, there was going to be an issue.

But thankfully she did, and so did everyone else on crew. It was oddly rewarding and satisfying—making something that people not only liked, but actively sought her out for. She loved when people went around set looking for her, proclaiming upon finding her that they had to try whatever she had because everyone else said how good it was. Sure, she knew how to cook a little when she started working with Clark. But she'd grown so much over the years, and to be able to see that new knowledge put into play and get met with praise for it was one of the most uplifting parts of her day.

She was practically bouncing with happiness by the time she got back to the trailer, and when she was able to check her phone, her heart nearly burst out of her chest because of how fast it started beating. She had a text from Lena, asking if she wanted to do anything that night. Of course she did. How was that even a question? But she tried to play it cool over text.

_Kara: Sure. Want to come over again?_

She waited for a few moments, staring at her phone screen in hopes that Lena would be near it. She'd just seen her at her chair, and she hadn't heard them say over the walkie that they were rolling yet. Part of her wished she had an iPhone instead of an Android simply so she could see those little dots that appeared when someone was typing a response. But since she didn't, she had no idea if Lena even saw the message yet.

Just when she was about to dejectedly put her phone back in her pocket, though, it vibrated in her hand and lit up with a response.

_Lena: Yes. And I'll bring your clothes back._

Kara scrunched up her nose for a second as she tried to think of what clothes Lena was talking about, but then she remembered that she'd loaned the star a clean outfit to go home in on Sunday. Lena had promised to wash them, and they'd no doubt been sitting in her penthouse all week. When Kara finally got them back, they would probably smell of nothing but Lena. And because of that Kara most likely wouldn't wear them again until she either missed Lena too much and needed to be surrounded by her scent, or until the scent wore off completely. Either way, the very idea sent her heart aflutter all over again.

_Kara: Totally forgot you even had them lol. But sounds good._

After that she put her phone away and helped Sam finish cleaning up, which was mostly just the dishes she'd made during cooking since Nia had done a great deal of cleaning and organizing earlier. But they also had to prep the trailer to move, so that meant strapping in anything that could fall over and hooking up the truck so Kara could just drive away with the rig at the end of the day. Once that was all done, they grabbed a couple of waters from a cooler outside the trailer and went inside to enjoy the air conditioning—no matter how weak the trailer's unit was, it was better than the sweltering heat outside.

"So," Kara started, leaning against the prep table, "have you heard from Nate?"

Over the past couple weeks as Sam and Kara had gotten closer, Sam had started telling her about this guy she was seeing named Nate. Apparently, he worked in film, too, as a stuntman. Kara had never heard of him or met him, but Sam had worked with him on her last show. They'd flirted a bit, eventually meeting outside of work for drinks. Sam had given her a few details here and there, not very much. But from what she knew, Nate was horrible at texting. Sam said he was never on his phone, didn't even have social media, so it wasn't abnormal. But when Kara prodded further, the brunette divulged that any time they got together, she was the one who had to initiate the encounter. So, Kara, who'd been involved with someone like that before, told Sam to stop texting him first and see what happened. That had been on Monday, and she hadn't heard anything about Nate since.

"No, he hasn't," Sam said, a frown suddenly appearing on her face. "I'm about to block him. I'm not playing anymore."

"I mean, that's a little drastic, but you do you," Kara said with a smirk.

Sam let out a deep sigh, her shoulders falling. She set her bottle of water on the table and turned to face Kara fully. "Can I tell you something without you judging me?"

"For the record, I'm pretty open-minded, but shoot," the blonde said, setting down her water as well and crossing her arms over her chest.

The brunette searched her face for a moment, and once she seemed to decide it was okay, she said, "Nate and I aren't really _dating_. We're kind of just friends with benefits."

"I figured," Kara said with a small nod. "And I honestly don't see a problem with it."

"Really?" Sam raised her eyebrows.

"Why would I?" Kara shrugged. "You're both consenting adults, and sex is a natural part of the human experience. Besides, you have a fucking kid. It's not like I thought you were a virgin." She gave a playful grin, earning a laugh and a shove in the shoulder from Sam. "Seriously, it's not a big deal. People try to make it out to be. But if you're smart and safe, who cares?"

"Not everyone sees it that way," Sam said, rolling her eyes.

"Not everyone's as smart as I am," Kara shot back.

"I wouldn't go that far," Sam responded in a joking manner, narrowing her eyes.

"I'm a genius, fuck you," the blonde said with a laugh, uncrossing her arms and flipping off the younger woman quickly before dropping her hands to her sides. "But really, Sam, it's _fine_. Men have this sex drive that everyone acknowledges and accepts, yet when it comes to women, we're expected to be all chaste and shit? No, we have needs, too."

"Thank you!" Sam exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. "I was with my baby daddy for nearly five years. I got used to having sex. I finally dumped his loser ass, and now that I've got my body back, it has _needs_." She sighed, putting down her hands and placing them on her hips instead. "And that's what Nate was, at first. Someone to fill that need. I didn't expect feelings to grow, but…" she trailed off, glancing at the ground.

"They did?" Kara guessed, and when Sam looked back up, the blonde noted there was a hint of sadness behind the other woman's brown eyes.

"Yeah, and now I don't know what I'm supposed to do," Sam said with a nod. "I dated the same person for so long that I forgot how to do all of this shit. And now there's this guy, who is nice and really hot, but he doesn't pay enough attention to me. And as much as I need sex, I don't know if I can keep doing this with him."

"So don't," Kara said. "If you can't keep sleeping with him without falling harder, you probably shouldn't be sleeping with him. I know you have needs, but if you get your heart broken in the process, is it really worth it?"

Sam stared at her for a moment. "I'm just gonna block him."

"No!" Kara said, stopping the younger women when she started to go into her back pocket for her phone. "What if you see him on set sometime? That's gonna be awkward as hell."

"What the fuck am I supposed to do then?"

"You have to talk to him, I guess," Kara supplied, giving a small shrug.

"And say what exactly?" Sam demanded.

"I don't know," Kara admitted. "I can't _tell _you what to say. But here's what I'm seeing—this guy doesn't talk to you unless you reach out to him first. You've had radio silence from him all week. If he liked you, wouldn't you—I don't know—be on his mind? Like, I know I'm not a guy and I don't even date guys, so I don't know what they're like romantically, but when there's a girl I really like, I make an effort to talk to her. At least a little bit. To me that just shows they were thinking about you. And if they were thinking about you, then they probably like you."

Sam chewed her lip as she mulled over Kara's words. "So how do I find out if he really likes me or not?" she asked.

Kara gaped at her. "Sam, you _ask _him."

The brunette looked at her like she'd grown a third eye in the middle of her forehead. "Are you fucking insane? I am _not _doing that."

"You asked me how you find out if he likes you, that's how!" Kara let out an exasperated sigh. "Look, I know it fucking sucks, and being vulnerable isn't easy, but until you just flat-out ask him, you're going to be sitting here wondering. And if it's hurting now, it's going to keep hurting if you continue on like this. If you don't stop sleeping with him, you're just going to keep falling harder, and then later if it's true that he really doesn't like you, then you're going to be devastated when things end. At least if you do it sooner you can get it over with now, before you start liking him too much."

"But what if he doesn't like me back?" Sam asked in a small voice, her face soft. It was a side to her Kara hadn't seen much, only brief flashes of this tender side of her coming out when Sam forgot for five seconds to let her guard down. She had a hard exterior, and she carried herself with an air of confidence. Her grin was usually cocky, and Kara knew if she batted those big brown eyes at a guy, she could probably get him to do just about anything. Yet now she seemed afraid. "What do I do then?"

"Then you end things and move on, I guess," Kara told her. "What do you want, someone just to fuck? Or do you want a boyfriend?"

"I want a boyfriend," Sam answered instantly. "I didn't right after the breakup, and Ruby, but being with him, it just—"

"Reminded you how nice it was to be with someone," Kara finished for her, her voice soft and her eyes falling to her feet. She knew that feeling all too well. Before Lena she forgot how much she missed having someone whose texts she awaited, someone she looked forward to seeing at the end of a long week, someone she daydreamed about a future with.

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "It may be dumb, but I want a husband and a family." She frowned, her mouth becoming a thin, white line. "I never planned on being a single mom, but that's how it is. But I don't want to be a single mom forever. I don't want Ruby to be an only child. Like, I know some people think family life is dumb, but that's just something I've always wanted."

"I don't think it's dumb. I want a wife and kids someday, too," Kara told her. "It's valid to want those things. But if Nate doesn't want those things, too, then he's wasting your time. Because all your effort and thoughts and free time are going to him when it could be going to someone else who wants the same things as you. Someone who wants you forever and always, not just to warm his bed for a few hours every other weekend."

Sam stared at Kara blankly for a few seconds before smacking her hand atop the prep table so suddenly that it started her boss. "God dammit. I hate that I know you're right, but you're fucking right."

Kara let out a small laugh. "Look, Sam, you're awesome, alright? And if he doesn't see that or want you—all of you—then he's a fucking idiot." She put her hands on the younger woman's shoulders so she could hold her gaze. "You're gorgeous, funny, and you have so much going for you. You're a great person, and you deserve someone who is going to be all about you, not someone who treats you like an afterthought. I want more than that for you, and I want you to want more than that for yourself. I'm not going to tell you what to do, but I think you owe it to yourself to at least _try _to talk to him. Because until you do, you're just going to keep hurting. And that's not okay."

Sam's eyes didn't show any tears, but she sniffled as Kara squeezed her shoulders. "Thanks, sis," she said softly. "I'll think about it."

"Good," Kara said, letting go of the slim woman.

They started making their way back to set after that. Sam's mood seemed to turn around pretty quickly, because she bumped hips with Kara playfully as they walked towards the stage.

She smiled as they walked, and there was a familiar twinkle in her eyes. "Kara, we're homies for real."

Kara threw her head back and laughed at that, even snorted a little bit. "Why do you sound so surprised about that?"

"I didn't expect to like you," Sam said with a shrug.

Kara looked at her, eyes wide, though a smile tugged at her lips. "_Sam_. What the fuck?"

"I don't usually like the people I work with, okay?" the brunette said defensively, lowering her voice when Kara opened the door to the building for them to walk through it. They weren't currently rolling, but that didn't mean they could go around yelling. "And I don't have that many friends, so it's been nice to have someone to talk to other than my mom for a change."

Kara frowned, though all the lights were off so no one could see. They had to been when they were working. The only lights were a few work lights scattered throughout the building. There was one at their setup, and as they got closer, Kara could see Nia starting to put food in boxes.

"Well, you've got me," Kara said in a low voice right before they got to the table. Sam simply smiled appreciatively in response.

"Good news," Nia said when they reached her. "We're wrapping in the next hour, so no second meal." She beamed, obviously pleased with the news. "I started packing up to get us a head start."

"Good girl," Kara said with a proud smile. The last thing she wanted was to be there late wrapping out. Not on a Friday night, not when she had the promise of time with Lena ahead of her. "Yeah, let's consolidate to one table and the coffee cart and get ready to get the hell out of here."

"Copy that, sis," Sam said, immediately going over to help Nia, Kara quickly joining the efforts as well.

* * *

Lena was never one to worry about what time production would wrap. Some days on set were short for her, depending on how many scenes she had to do or simply how much they had to film. She'd been on set for as little as four hours before but had also been on set as long as twenty. Those days sucked, but despite how awful they were, she never complained. She was getting paid to do a job, she was a professional, and she would go home when she was done like everyone else.

But that Friday when they wrapped at around ten and a half hours, she was incredibly thankful. Normally she wouldn't have cared because the arrival of a weekend just meant time for her to spend in solitude in her loft. Which had never bothered her too much before. Yet with the addition of Kara to her life, every night spent in her bed alone felt hollow and empty. She'd spent all week tossing and turning, barely getting any sleep because of this.

By the time she finally left set that night, she could barely keep her eyes open in Jess's car on the way back to her building. But as she climbed out of the SUV and bid her assistant goodnight, she couldn't help the smile that tugged at her lips as she walked into her building.

Kara had texted her that she was leaving set not long after Lena did, so that meant soon the blonde would be home. Then she was going to venture out across the city again to pick up Lena. And as tired as she was, there was something about that knowledge that seemed to give her a small jolt of energy—enough to make it up to the top floor and climb into the shower, at least.

Yet while sometimes showering woke her up, this time it just made her more relaxed and ready to go to sleep. She grumbled the whole time she pulled on a sweatshirt and jeans in order to be ready for when Kara arrived. The blonde had texted her that she was home right before Lena got in the shower, but she knew Kara had to shower as well. But that probably wouldn't take long, and she would be leaving soon.

Lena didn't want to be scrambling around for her stuff when Kara got there, so she quickly started packing a bag. She threw in a couple of outfits fit for lounging around the house, underwear, and a few things to sleep in… though she hoped spending the night with Kara meant she wouldn't _need _clothes to sleep in. When she was done, she checked her phone again, and sure enough, Kara had texted her that she was on the way.

She went out to the living room, spotting the outfit Kara had loaned her the previous weekend perched on the arm of the couch. She grabbed that too and tossed it into the bag before running back to the bedroom to grab the phone charger she nearly forgot, not wanting to have a repeat of the previous weekend. Her phone was nearly dead as it was, and she didn't know how long she was going to be at Kara's. They hadn't spoken about whether she was just spending the night or the whole weekend again. Lena didn't want to assume, but she also didn't want to ask. But something inside her knew that on Saturday if Kara didn't offer to bring her home then she probably wouldn't ask her to.

Since she wasn't with Kara and the blonde didn't have a key card to the garage, she'd be picking up Lena out front. It was risky, but it would have to do for that weekend. When she went down to wait, Roy was at the desk, and when she asked if she could get a second key card, he simply smiled brightly, reached into a desk drawer, pulled one out, and handed it to her. She thanked him as she slipped it into her jean pocket, then scurried to the front exit when she saw the headlight of Kara's Jeep pull up in front of the building.

She put up the hood of her sweatshirt in an attempt to conceal her identity somewhat and rushed out the door, running right past the door man and climbing into the Jeep. Kara looked at her curiously for a moment until Lena peaked at her from under the hood.

"Drive," she instructed, throwing her bag at her feet and scooting down in her seat in case there were any paparazzi outside.

Kara didn't question her, just threw the car in gear and pulled out into traffic again. Lena waited until they were a couple of blocks away to remove her hood, smiling apologetically at Kara.

"Sorry about that," she said. "I just didn't know if there were paparazzi outside."

"It's fine," Kara said, tossing an easy smile Lena's way. "It was kind of cool. You just jumped in my car with a bag and told me to start driving. I felt like I was part of a heist or something."

Lena laughed at that, and she reached into her pocket and pulled out the new key card. "Here," she said, putting it in the cup holder. "Next time just use that, and you can get into the garage."

Kara glanced down at it, then up to Lena, her cheeks going a little pink. "Thanks."

Lena bit her lip and nodded in response. She gazed over at Kara, taking her in. Her hair was damp and hanging over her shoulders loosely. She was wearing another old t-shirt with the sleeves cut off, and Lena was able to see through the armhole that Kara—like herself—had forgone a bra that evening. And of course, the basketball shorts. Even in the dark car she could see that.

Then Kara glanced at her, caught her staring, and sent her another smile. The older woman reached across the center console and took Lena's hand, threading their fingers together. "I missed you," she admitted in a soft voice.

Lena stared at her for a moment, chewing her lip. They'd seen each other all week, but only in brief snippets. And while it was nice to spend whatever kind of time with Kara that she could, it wasn't the same as when they were alone together. She thought she'd been dumb to ache when Kara passed by with food and not be able to keep her there for a moment to just _be _with her. That impatiently waiting for the weekend so they could retreat into their hole of bliss was foolish. Yet if Kara was admitting she'd missed her despite their constant close proximity, maybe her own longing wasn't invalid.

"I missed you, too," the brunette said, lifting Kara's hand to her mouth and kissing the back of it.

Once they got to Kara's of course the blonde announced that she was starving, so they ordered a pizza, and twenty minutes later they were sitting on the couch in Kara's living room eating it right out of the box. Kara ate about half the pizza in one sitting, while Lena stuck with only two slices. And even after Kara put the rest of the pizza away, she was rummaging around in the freezer for ice cream.

Lena told her she was going to make herself sick, and the other woman just waved off the comment. But then Lena watched her fixed herself a bowl with sprinkles, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream, and she had to admit it looked good. Kara must have seen the longing on her face, because she just laughed, handed the bowl and a spoon to Lena, and started making a second for herself without a word.

They ate the ice cream at the table, and Lena thought briefly about how much weight Kara was going to cause her to gain. But then the blonde got whipped cream on her lip, and her tongue darting out to lick it off was enough to make her forget the calories for a moment.

When they were done, they rinsed off their bowls and put them in the dishwasher before retreating back into the living room. They turned on the unsolved mysteries show Kara had showed Lena, and for a while they watched with interest. But then Kara started yawning, an obvious sign that she was crashing from the sugar she'd ingested and the long week she'd had. And the moment she started yawning, Lena started yawning too, her eyelids becoming increasingly heavy.

While Lena couldn't wait to get Kara alone, now that they were, she had no energy to do anything about it. It was like some cruel twist of fate. But as she slid out of her jeans and crawled into bed next to the blonde, she remembered that they had the whole next day. And maybe possibly the night and following day as well. And then there was the next weekend, and the weekend after that. It wasn't like her time with Kara was going to be over in the morning—like it had been in the past with other partners. She didn't need to push through her exhaustion just to have sex because she didn't know the next opportunity she'd get to. Kara was going to be there in the foreseeable future.

Something about that was oddly comforting, and as strong arms wrapped around her and pulled her close, she felt an ease wash over her. She rested her head on Kara's chest, heard the rhythmic beating of her heart. The blonde placed a kiss on the crown of the actress's head and began to absentmindedly trace patterns across Lena's back with her fingers. It was all so soothing, and she'd been so tired before getting picked up, so it was no wonder when Lena's eyelids closed involuntarily almost immediately. But even as she drifted off, she clung to Kara in turn, arm locked across her waist, tucked into the warmth radiating from the woman next to her.

It was the best sleep she got all week.

* * *

**Well until next time.**

**-DF**


	17. Exclusive

**NSFW warning**

**usual disclaimer of me not owning shit**

* * *

Kara made pancakes for breakfast again the following morning, only this time she made an addition. This time she put in chocolate chips, and just when Lena thought it couldn't get any sweeter, the blonde went into the fridge and retrieved the can of whipped cream they'd used for the ice cream the night before. The brunette was about to deny the added sugar, but one look at Kara's already prepared stack made her shut her mouth and allow the inclusion. She even took a little of Kara's white mocha creamer in her coffee that morning, and it was surprisingly delicious.

Lena had never been big on sweets, but she didn't leave a single crumb on her plate or even a minuscule drop in her coffee. And even after the dishes were cleared, when Kara went back into the fridge for the can of whipped cream again, Lena didn't bat an eyelash. Instead she watched with curiosity as the blonde tipped her head back and squirted a stream of whipped cream into her mouth. It was something she'd seen done in movies and television before, but never in person. She'd also never tried it herself—mostly because Lillian never allowed that kind of food in the house, and as an adult she skirted away from unnecessary sugars. But the way Kara sighed happily as she swallowed her mouthful of goodness made her want to try it.

"May I?" Lena asked, holding out her hand for the can.

"Sure," said Kara brightly, instantly handing over the whipped cream.

Lena did just as the blonde had done, dipped her head back and opened her mouth wide. She pressed the nozzle, maybe a little too hard, because by the time she stopped, she'd gone overboard. When she closed her mouth bits of whipped cream squished out the sides of her lips. Once she swallowed, she hastily tried to wipe at her face, feeling it burn bright with embarrassment at her bumbled attempt.

"You've still got a little…" Kara said, motioning to the corners of her own mouth. Lena attempted to clean her face again, but Kara shook her head. "Here," she said, stepping closer to the actress.

She lifted her hands, and Lena expected her to use the pads of her thumbs to wipe away the whipped cream. But Kara cupped Lena's cheeks and slowly drew her face closer. Lena's stomach did a somersault when Kara kissed the right side of Lena's mouth, then moved to the left and did the same. Then Kara licked her own lips before placing them fully on Lena's, kissing her tenderly for a moment before pulling away and regarding the younger woman.

"There," Kara said, removing her hands from Lena's face. "Got it."

Lena stared at her for a moment, a mischievous glint in her eye. Then, before Kara even had time to react, Lena brought up the whipped cream can and squirted a glob on Kara's mouth. "Oops," she said, her voice low and sultry, yet her face conveying innocence. "Let me get that for you."

She leaned forward and placed her mouth over Kara's, tasting the sweetness of the whipped cream on her tongue before darting it past the blonde's lips. The blonde shuddered as Lena's tongue rolled over hers, her pulse quickening at the action. Then she broke the kiss in order to snatch the can from Lena's hand. Green eyes flashed open, questioning.

"Come with me," was all the blonde said in explanation.

Lena was obviously curious, but she didn't ask the blonde's intentions as she followed her down the hallway. But when Kara led them into her bedroom and turned to look at Lena with darkened eyes, the starlet understood. She smirked and quirked an eyebrow at the other woman.

"Dessert?" Lena asked. "So soon after breakfast?"

Kara laughed at that. "We could call it brunch."

"Call it whatever you want, just take your shirt off," Lena said with a playful grin.

The blonde bit her lip, her cheeks tinging a soft shade of pink. She threw the can of whipped cream on the bed and grabbed them hem of her shirt, pulling the garment off in one quick motion. Lena ogled her for a moment, let her eyes linger on the toned muscles of Kara's stomach before they traveled to her bare chest. Just looking at her flooded Lena with heat, and she couldn't wait to trace patterns with her tongue across Kara's skin.

Lena put a finger on Kara's chest and pushed gently. The blonde took the hint and started backing up until she was at the base of the bed. Then Lena flattened her hand and gave Kara a gentle shove. Kara fell onto her back, gazing up at Lena with wide eyes. She propped herself up on her elbows and watched with interest as Lena grabbed the discarded can from its place near the pillows and came back around to the front of the bed to stand in front of her one more.

The brunette regarded the woman beneath her for a moment, her green eyes scanning every exposed piece of skin, trying to decide where to start. Finally, she poised the can over Kara's stomach, leaving a dollop of whipped cream right above her navel. She put another in the middle of her abdomen, and then another in the center of her chest, in the valley between her breasts before tossing the can on the bed behind Kara.

Then she bent over Kara, sweeping her dark hair over her shoulder as she used her tongue to scoop up the first dollop of whipped cream from Kara's stomach. The blonde hissed at the action, squirming as Lena fully pressed her lips against her skin. She felt a tongue dance across her skin for a brief moment before it was gone again, Lena moving onto the next spot.

She got to the place between Kara's breasts, kissing the whipped cream off before moving her lips to Kara's right breast and closing them around the nipple. A soft moan came from the other woman's mouth, and she lifted a hand and tangled it in Lena's hair. The brunette sucked gently, enjoying the soft whimpers from her partner. She didn't move to the left until Kara's right nipple was stiff and erect.

"Fuck," Kara muttered when Lena nipped at her left nipple with her teeth.

But then her tongue circled the nub, and Kara sighed pleasantly as shudders ran down her spine. Then she tugged gently on Lena's hair and pulled her up for a kiss, tasting the lingering sugar on her lips. Lena draped herself over the other woman, enjoyed the way Kara's hand that wasn't in her hair settled on the small of her back.

Kara shifted her hips, rolled them over so she was on top. Her lips detached from Lena's to trail along her jaw, then to her neck. Lena's mouth opened in a small gasp as those lips landed on her pulse point and started sucking gently. She wanted to protest for a moment about her leaving a mark for filming, but she lost all resolve when a hot tongue rolled across her skin and sent a pulse of heat through her body, settling between her legs.

Then the lips were gone, and Kara was grabbing the can of whipped cream off the nightstand and looking down at her with a smirk. She gave the can a shake before poising it over Lena's chest, squirting a dollop on each of her nipples. The blonde dipped her head and kissed the whipped cream off the left, quickly moving to the right. After she knelt beside Lena on the bed to give herself more access to her body.

She furrowed her brow as she thought about what to do next, smiling as an idea came to her. Lena watched curiously as Kara drew out a heart with whipped cream across her stomach, biting her lip as her own _real_ heart fluttered at the action. But a moment later Kara was tossing the can to the side and bending over Lena to lick the design away. The brunette was almost sorry to see it go, but the second that hot mouth came in contact with her skin, she no longer cared.

By the time Kara was done, Lena was squirming, and her whole body felt like it was on fire. Then the blonde's lips were on hers again, soft yet firm. She wondered if she would ever get used to it—the way her stomach involuntarily flipped in the best way possible every time Kara kissed her—but she _really_ hoped she didn't.

When Kara pulled away, she captured Lena's bottom lip with her teeth and dragged it out slowly before letting it go. Lena's eyes flashed open, her pupils incredibly dilated as her breaths came in quick gasps.

"How are you feeling about trying something a little different?" Kara asked, her confidence seeming to waiver slightly as uncertainty crossed her features.

But Lena smirked and gave a small nod. "Sure." She quickly placed a reaffirming peck on Kara's lips. "What did you have in mind, exactly?"

Kara took in a deep breath before climbing off Lena and rolling over to reach off the side of the bed. She opened the bottom drawer of her nightstand and pulled it open. Lena curiously peaked over her shoulder, her eyes bulging when it looked like Kara had a full collection of sex toys. She moved aside a couple in order to pull out a hardness with a dildo attached. But it wasn't like the one Lena had a home in her own bedside table.

Lena's was simple, just a strap and a latex dildo. It didn't even vibrate. But Kara's had wires coming from it, so it obviously _did _vibrate. And instead of just one toy sticking out the front, there was also a second, smaller one on the inside, obviously meant for the wearer's enjoyment. Lena was glad she was already lying down because her knees went weak just looking at it.

"Fuck," Lena muttered, eyes going wide. "_Yes._"

A smile spread across Kara's face, and she breathed out, "Okay."

Lena expected her to start putting it on immediately, but the blonde went into the drawer once more and pulled out something else. This was small, black, oval-shaped object that fit in the palm of Kara's hand. There was a button on the top, and when Kara turned it over, Lena saw that there was a small protrusion. She looked up at Kara, raising her eyebrows questioningly.

"It's supposed to go in underwear," Kara explained. "But I bought it with the intention of fitting it inside the harness so I could feel the effect of my thrust." She cast her eyes downward, self-consciously almost. "I've tried it on, and it fits, but I've never had the opportunity to try it until now. I'm not sure if it'll work."

Lena sat up slowly and took Kara's open hand, making her close her fingers around the insert. "Only one way to find out."

With that the confidence seemed to return, because Kara smiled brightly and lifted her head, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "I suppose so," she murmured.

She looked like she was about to say something else, but she quickly shook her head and knelt instead to start getting into the harness. Lena helped her, fastening the buckle so that the straps fit snugly on Kara's hips. The blonde reached between her legs and slowly slid the shaft of the shorter dildo into herself, sighing as it moved inside of her. Lena picked up the remote attached to the end and pressed the button, turning on the toy.

It buzzed to life so suddenly that Kara gasped in surprise and reached out to clasp a hand around Lena's wrist. The brunette froze until blue eyes locked onto hers.

"If you press the button again, you can change the speed," Kara told her, her voice an octave higher.

"Do you want me to?" Lena asked, her thumb hovering above the button.

Kara hesitated for a moment, licking her lips before saying, "Just press it once quickly to go to the next speed up," she said, wincing immediately when Lena did just that. "Okay, good."

"Good." Lena held out the remote "What do I do with this?"

Kara took it from her, twisting around to show a loop in the strap, the perfect size for the remote. Whoever designed this toy had thought of nearly everything, and Lena almost wished she knew who it was so she could send them a thank you card once they were done. Even as Kara turned on the insert and slipped it into the front of the harness, Lena continued to be amazed. The toy fit perfectly, held in place at the bottom by the base inside Kara, and the front of the dildo holding the rest against Kara's clit. With the way Kara squirmed, the protrusion on the bottom of the toy suddenly made more sense to Lena.

"You alright?" Lena asked.

"Great." Kara nodded, shifting carefully on the bed so she was kneeling in front of Lena. "Are you?" she asked, placing a hand on one of Lena's knees.

Lena smirked briefly then bit her lip. "I'd be a lot better with you inside me."

Kara audibly gulped. She stared at Lena for a few moments, trying to come up with something clever to say back. But she wasn't exactly thinking clearly, and she didn't trust her voice to speak anyway. So instead she just nodded and pushed Lena's legs open gently.

She guided the head of the dildo forward, rubbing it against Lena's folds before prodding in gently. The brunette gave a small sigh, locked eyes with Kara, and gave a nod of consent. With that Kara pushed her hips forward until she was at the base. Then she lay atop Lena again, hovering her face above hers. One hand came up to rest beside Lena's head, supporting Kara's weight. The other went under Lena's thigh, pulling her closer and allowing Lena to wrap her legs around Kara.

Then the blonde began rocking her hips back and forth, slowly at first, but quickly picking up rhythm and pace. It felt good at first, sure, but once Kara found just the right speed, Lena's eyes began to roll back in her head. So, she shut them and put her hands on the sides of Kara's face and pulled her down to kiss her. Kara's tongue instantly darted into her mouth, tangling with her own.

Kara felt one of Lena's hands trail from her face the back of her neck, grabbing her hair at the nape and tugging it gently. She sighed into the actress's mouth and thrust her hips forward harder in response, earning a garbled moan from Lena that came from low in the back of her throat.

Every time she brought her hips forward, her clit rubbed pleasantly against the insert, still vibrating frantically inside the harness. While she'd been worried about how it would work before, she was currently sorry she'd ever doubted it. The friction and vibration combined with the dildo that was also moving inside her were building a peak, threatening to hurl her over the edge at any second.

And the way Lena squirmed with every touch only made matters worse. Eventually the brunette broke their kiss to bury her face in Kara's shoulder, muttering a string of garbled speech against her skin. Kara started thrusting with renewed vigor, and then, she felt it—she'd found _just _the right speed. The familiar pull started deep in her gut, and she knew she was close.

"Fuck, yes Kara, _yes,_" Lena said into her shoulder. "Right there, just like that."

Kara's hips didn't relent, but she screwed her eyes shut and tried to hold on just a little longer. Lena's hands had moved to her back, and Kara could feel her nails digging softly into her skin. But she was gradually applying more pressure, and then she bit down on the blonde's shoulder gently to stile a particularly loud moan.

Lena closed her eyes, her body tensing for a moment as her orgasm built until suddenly every muscle started to relax, and she felt herself tip into ecstasy. Even biting onto Kara's shoulder couldn't stop the scream that came out, punctuated with grunts in time with Kara's thrusts. Kara's groaned as nails scratched down her back, and she couldn't hold back any longer. She gave in to the pulses of pleasure and allowed them to fully take her, rolling through her body. She shuddered, but didn't break the pace with her hips, not until she and Lena were both practically quivering.

She stopped moving completely, allowing both herself and Lena to finish riding out the waves, until they subsided enough that she reached in between their bodies and removed the insert, taking it out and turning it off and setting it aside. Lena ran her hand down Kara's back until it found the elastic of the strap. She blindly searched until she found the remote for the dildo and gave the button a long press until the vibrating stopped.

Green eyes opened slowly, and when she lifted her head, Kara was looking down at her sweetly. She reached up and swiped away a tear at the corner of Lena's eye, her face instantly showing concern.

"Are you crying?" she asked.

"No," Lena said quickly, honestly. Her cheeks went a shade of pink. "It's just, from the exertion—my eyes just teared up a little bit." She ducked her head, slightly embarrassed she'd come so hard she'd produced actual tears. But she cleared her throat and tried to play it off, lifting her head with a smirk for show. "You're quite talented. Are you sure you've never used that before?"

Kara laughed a little, finally sitting up and sliding the toy out of Lena. She began to fiddle with the strap to undo it as she said, "Well, I've used the harness before. It was just the insert that was a new addition to the mix," she said, tossing the toy by their feet at the end of the bed.

Lena wasn't prepared for the surge of jealousy that went through her, but she tried to swallow it as she sat up and brought her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. "Oh," she said, attempting to keep her voice from sounding hollow.

Kara, sensing a shift in Lena's mood, instantly sat in front of her. "But that was only with one person, and it was a really long time ago," she told her, not sure why she felt the need to say it. But it was the truth, nonetheless. "And I've washed it multiple times since then."

"That's not what I'm concerned about," Lena said, then quickly added, "Though, that is nice, and hygienically speaking, safe, so thank you."

"Then what is it?" Kara prodded, those blue eyes never leaving Lena.

Lena thought about telling her for a moment, about the pang of jealously. But it didn't make any sense. Kara had owned the strap before Lena, so it was valid that she would have used it with someone else beforehand. She'd used her own with other women. So why did the flash of an image she got of Kara with another faceless woman make her feel like she'd been punched in the gut?

"Lena?" Kara questioned when Lena didn't answer.

The brunette let out a shaky breath before admitting, "I just got jealous of the idea of you being with someone else. It's fucking stupid, I know, especially since it was in the past, but it's just how I feel."

"It's not stupid," Kara said, reaching out and taking one of Lena's hands. "Feelings are valid, and you shouldn't feel stupid for them."

That made Lena feel a little better, and the corners of her mouth lifted into a smile. "Still. Even if it was something that was going on currently with someone else, I don't exactly have a right to be jealous, do I? I mean, we just agreed we were _something_, but didn't set terms to what that something was."

Kara chewed her lip for a moment. "Well, for what it's worth, I'm not dating _or _sleeping with anyone else." She quirked an eyebrow, though she looked worried. "Are you?"

Lena shook her head quickly. "Of course not."

"Okay," the blonde said, giving the other woman's hand a squeeze. "I also don't really _want _to be with anyone else. I just… I just want you." She paused to take a breath, steadying herself. "But I also don't want to fuck this up by moving too fast with you. I really like where this is going."

"Me too," Lena admitted, finally lowering her knees and instead crossing her legs in front of her. "So, what does that mean?" she asked slowly. "What does that make… Us?"

"I'm not sure," Kara said, her brows knitting together as she thought about it. "I guess we're still… _Something_. Just something—exclusive?" She winced, as if she expected Lena to spit in her face at the suggestion. "Is that okay?"

And Lena, who had never once been involved in anything exclusive with anyone, somehow didn't blink, didn't balk, and didn't flee. Instead, she nodded slowly, and said boldly, "Okay."

"Okay," Kara repeated again, breathing out a sigh of relief. She brought their intertwined hands to her lips and kissed Lena's knuckles.

Lena smiled, her heart doing that erratic thudding it always did when Kara showed her even the slightest bit of affection. She tugged on Kara's hand, urging her forward. The blonde leaned towards her, and Lena closed the gap by putting her hand on the back of Kara's neck and pulling her in the rest of the way. When they kissed, the usual butterflies sprang to life in her stomach, turning into bats when Kara sucked her bottom lip between hers.

When they pulled away, both were gasping, and Lena as leaned her head against Kara's, her eyelids fluttered open. Blue orbs were staring back at her, crystal clear and breathtaking.

"So, Miss Danvers," Lena muttered against Kara's lips. "What else is there is that Drawer of Fun of yours?"

* * *

They only left the bed for food and bathroom breaks that Saturday. At one point they'd taken a nap for a few hours, but Lena woke up Kara with kisses, and they were right back at it the moment the fog lifted from the blonde's brain.

The plan was to sleep in on Sunday to give their bodies some much needed rest. And _god_ did Kara need it. She exerted enough energy during the week at work. The weekend was supposed to be her chance to take it easy and give her body a break. But that didn't happen on Saturday considering she and Lena had fucked like jack rabbits, only stopping in the wee hours of the morning when they physically could not go any longer.

So, when her phone started ringing shortly after seven on Sunday morning, it took everything in her not to throw the device across the room. But even in her groggy state, she was able to see Clark's name flashing across the screen.

She cursed under her breath as she hastily grabbed the phone and took it to the next room to not disturb Lena. Her eyes hurt from the rays of early morning sun peaking in through the blinds, and she quickly went over to the window to pull down the shade—ducking as she went because she'd never had the need to put on clothes, and if someone happened to be in her driveway for some fucking reason they didn't need to get flashed. Then she straightened up, took a deep breath, and answered the call right before it went to voicemail.

"Hello?" she asked, her voice thick and heavy with sleep.

"Hey," came Clark's voice, loud and cheery as usual. "You sound like you were sleeping. Did I wake you?"

"Yeah, that's what normal people without children are usually doing at the ass crack of dawn, Clark," she responded with a yawn, not even bothering to keep the agitation out of her voice. "You couldn't have waited another hour or so?"

"Sorry, I just got off the phone with J'onn, and I wanted to talk to you about a couple of things," Clark said. "Now that you're up, do you got a sec?"

Kara wanted to say no. That whatever he wanted could wait a few hours until she got more sleep, had a chance to drink her coffee, and become fully coherent. But now that he'd woken her, the chance of her going back to sleep without knowing what he wanted was slim. "Shoot," she said.

"So, J'onn told me about the thing with the producers and the budget," Clark said, and thankfully he didn't sound mad. "It's awesome that they increased it and gave you more leeway. But in the future if you do another show without me, try to keep on budget, okay? That's a big part of your responsibility."

"Clark, I _told you_," she insisted, "it was impossible!"

"I know, I know," he said quickly. "Just in the _future_, on other shows with better budgets. We need to try to stay as on track as possible. Copy?"

The blonde sighed. "Copy."

"The reason I say this, is because I have some news," Clark said, and even on the phone, she could tell he was smiling. "It's pretty big."

Kara wanted to be more excited, but she was only mildly intrigued. She wasn't awake enough to get excited over anything except a huge iced coffee being placed in her hand. "Okay, what is it?" she asked as she sat in her desk chair.

"J'onn did the pilot for this show called _On the Air_ about this guy who does a talk show on the radio a few months back. It got picked up, but producers weren't happy with who did crafty on it. So they're looking for someone else to do it."

"Does that mean they're looking at us?" Kara asked, suddenly incredibly interested.

She'd heard about that show. They'd been up for the pilot, but it went to someone else. She and Clark had both really wanted it because it was a TV show, not a movie. So instead of only a few weeks of work, they had months of it ahead of them. And if they came back for more seasons, Kara would have a steady paycheck to look forward to as well. No more worrying about when the next show would be or even if there _would_ be a next show. Job security was something she hadn't realized she missed until it was staring her right in the face.

"J'onn said to consider this a working interview," Clark said. "So, if you just keep doing well, yeah, I think we'll get it."

"Shit yeah," Kara said, a smile breaking out across her face.

The rest of the conversation consisted of pass-around ideas that Kara could do now that they had a better budget. Kara jotted down his suggestions, and once they hung up, she got on her computer and looked up a few other recipes before printing them out. She looked over them proudly, excitement coursing through her.

But even with all the excitement, there was still that tinge of worry. Would she be able to execute these recipes? And would J'onn think they were good enough? Suddenly it was much more than just this show she had to worry about. Now there was this whole other potential show that hung in the balance, one that was basically hers to either win or lose.

Hers and _Clark's_, that was. It wasn't just her career that was at stake. It was his, too, and once again, he was counting on her to not fuck it up for them.

Overwhelmed by her new bout of anxiety, she went back to bed and cuddled up to Lena's side. The brunette, while still asleep, threw an arm across Kara's torso and pulled herself into the warmth radiating from the other woman. And somehow that calmed Kara, helped ground her and allowed her to slow her thoughts long enough to close her eyes and fall back asleep again, even if only for a few hours.

* * *

**Something to help entertain you few folk during quarantine.**

**Until next time.**


	18. Sassy

**new words about characters I don't own**

* * *

Thankfully going into week four Kara felt a little better, the initial anxiety about the potential project finally subsiding. But that didn't mean it was completely gone, however it wasn't as overwhelming. If anything, it lit a fire under her ass and forced her to really get her head in the game.

The pass-arounds they did that week were amazing, and she was met with praise from the majority of the crew. She'd gotten creative, doing things like quesadillas, chili, egg rolls, and chicken Alfredo. Some of it she did from scratch, other things were frozen appetizers they bought from Walmart and threw in the oven, and she'd even ordered some stuff from a few places to make things easier on them.

The change was noted by everyone, but most importantly J'onn, who patted her on the back on Friday night and told her she'd blown it out of the water that week. The look of pride he gave her to accompany the compliment put a spring in her step the whole time they were wrapping out. By the time she was climbing into the front seat of the truck she was practically bouncing.

She felt amazing as she drove home. She'd had a great week, not once getting stressed or overwhelmed. She'd been nice to everyone, helpful when people asked questions of her, and put out food she could be proud of. And to top it off, Clark had left her alone for the most part except for the occasional text to check in. She preferred it that way. It was nice when he just let her be, when she felt like he actually trusted her to do what was expected of her.

And when she got home and saw a text from Clark, she shoved down her initial reaction to cringe. Instead she took a deep breath as she opened the door to her house and walked inside, reading the text.

_Clark: J'onn said you did great this week. Good job! Keep it up, rock star! _

She smiled at that, thankful it wasn't more critiquing. Or another long, rambling paragraph of Clark's endless stream of thoughts like she sometimes got. No, this was perfect, and just what she needed.

The blonde typed out a quick response before quickly jumping in the shower. Then she was dressed and heading out the door again, jumping in her car to head to Noonan's. While she was anxious to get Lena alone again, the girls had suggested getting drinks. Even Nia wanted to go, to celebrate making it half-way through filming. And surprisingly, Lena wanted to go as well. Jess was going to be bringing her to the bar, and Kara knew there was an unspoken agreement between her and Lena that the actress would be going home with her afterwards.

When she got there, she was happy to see Lena and Jess already there. She was surprised to see Jack and Winn there also, though. But she didn't mind it. She'd gotten to talking to Winn more as the weeks went on, and she enjoyed his non-threatening male company. And Jack had yet to give her a reason not to like him.

"There she is! Everyone's favorite person on set!" Jack called as soon as he saw her, causing the blonde to balk and blush as a few of the other patrons in the bar turned to look at her. "Get whatever you want, Kara," he announced, pointing towards the bar, where Ray stood there gaping. "Put it on my tab!"

Kara nodded and gave a thumbs up. "You heard the man, Ray," she said with a grin, leaning over the bar and folding her arms on top of it. "My usual, on Mr. Spheer's tab."

"I can't believe Jack Spheer _and_ Lena Luthor are in my bar at the same time," Ray commented, almost dumbstruck as he poured her drink. "I loved Jack in _Rise of Knight_." He handed her the drink, his hand slightly shaking. "Do you think it would be okay if I ask him for a picture?"

Kara smirked. "I think so. He loves taking pictures."

Ray's eyes went wide, and his face drained of most of its color. "Really?"

"Sure," Kara said with a nod. "Come on, I'll introduce you."

Ray instantly dropped the bar towel he was holding and attempted to smooth down his hair as he ran around the bar to meet Kara. As they walked towards the table, she could see Ray pulling at his shirt, trying to get out the wrinkles. It was almost cute, how flustered civilians got over celebrities.

"Jack, this is my friend Ray," she said when they got to the table.

"Hello, Ray," Jack said brightly, putting on a wide grin. "How are you?"

"I—I'm good, thanks," Ray managed to get out, the color coming back to his face, but now it was turning red.

"Ray's a big fan," Kara explained, clapping Ray on the back to show her support. "And if it's not too much trouble, he'd be very grateful if he could get a photo with you."

"Absolutely!" Jack said, not missing a beat.

He immediately jumped up and moved off to the side of the table and motioned for Ray to come closer. Ray reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, blindly shoving it at Kara before walking over to stand beside Jack.

"Alright, I guess I'm taking it," Kara muttered as she opened the camera on Ray's phone and pointed it at the pair.

When all was said and done Ray thanked Kara profusely before heading back to the bar. Kara was just about to grab a chair and sit at the table when Jack stopped her.

"Hang on," he said. "We never did get that photo of you and I, did we?"

Kara blushed slightly and shook her head. "It's fine, Jack. I don't need one."

"You sure?" Jack asked, shoulders falling a little.

Kara chewed her lip. She didn't want to make a fuss, but she also didn't want to hurt his feelings by turning him down, especially when she'd already taken one with Lena. "Well… If you don't mind."

"Of course I don't! I'm the one offering," Jack said with a smile. He pulled his phone from his pocket and handed it to Winn. "Would you do the honors?"

"Sure!" Winn hopped up to take the photo.

Kara stood next to Jack, somewhat unsure of what to do with herself. But thankfully Jack grabbed his own drink off the table and touched the rim to hers, posing in cheers for the photo. Kara smiled right before the flash went off, blinking afterwards as spots swam in her vision.

When she was finally able to sit down, she was thankful to see that Lena had subtly pulled another chair up to the table for her, right by her own. She smiled at the brunette briefly as she took her seat, situating herself so that her knee was touching Lena's. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the actress glance down and bite her lip, then she felt Lena pressing her knee more solidly into her own. The action caused her heart to flutter and a heat rise in her cheeks.

"Kara, what's your Instagram handle?" Jack asked, phone in hand and ready to post the photo.

"Oh, no, you don't have to tag me," Kara said quickly.

Lena, who still remembered the handle from the time she'd gone through Kara's page herself, had to bite her tongue and sip her rum and Diet Coke to stop herself from blurting out the answer herself. Thankfully someone else beat her to it.

"It's SuperKara," Winn said, smirking at her.

"How do you know that, Winn?" Kara demanded.

"I followed you last week," he informed her. "And you never followed me back, bitch."

Kara gaped at him. "Alright, _sassy_. Take it down a notch. I'll follow you." She pulled out her phone and opened Instagram, going to her recent followers and finding Winn. "There. Followed back. See?" She held up the phone for proof.

"It's not the same if I have to tell you to do it," he whined.

Kara looked around the table, then nodded her head at Winn. "Alright, what's with him?"

"Oh, Winn has already had two shots and is on his second drink," Jess explained, smirking at the small man across the table.

"Jack's driving!" Winn yelled at her before downing the rest of his drink. Then he stood, almost too quickly, nearly stumbling for a moment before steadying himself. "Now, I'm going grab another drink from that beefcake bartender. Anyone else want anything?"

"I want you to stop ordering drinks as an excuse to talk to him, grow some balls, and ask for his number already," Jack told him. "Do you want me to go with you? I can be your wingman."

"No, he likes you!" Winn said, putting his hands on his hips. "You'll just distract him." The small man blew out a breath. "Besides, I don't even know if he's gay."

"He's not, but he's bi," Kara offered before taking a sip, smirking over the rim of her drink as Winn went beet red.

"Is he single?" Winn asked, glancing over his shoulder to the man in question.

"I think so," Kara said with a shrug. "He and his last girlfriend Nora broke up about three months ago, and I haven't seen anything else on his Facebook about him dating anyone else."

Winn looked at Kara, his eyes lighting up. "Game on." He grabbed her by the wrist. "You. You're his friend. Come with me."

Kara stayed seated, glancing over at Lena quickly. She'd only just gotten here. She didn't want to leave her again so soon. "Um…"

"I'll go with you, Winn," Jess announced, standing from her seat. "Let Kara stay and rest. She's been on her feet all day."

Winn pouted, but released Kara nonetheless. "Fine."

As they walked off together, Jack turned to Kara. "You really did an outstanding job this week."

"Thanks," Kara said with a smile, taking another sip of her drink. "They increased our budget, so it was nice to be able to put out better stuff. I don't know how it happened, but I'm really glad it did."

Sitting beside her, Lena choked on a sip of her own drink, coughing a little. Kara immediately reached out a hand to rub Lena's back in soothing circles—purely out of reflex—until she realized the touch would be too familiar. But her hand was already halfway there, and it would look stupid to pull it back now, so she settled with giving the brunette a few light pats.

"You okay?" she asked, pulling her hand back quickly and placing it in her lap so she wouldn't be tempted to do something dumb with it again.

"I'm good," Lena said once she'd gotten her coughing under control, but her voice was raspy. She took a long sip of her drink, clearing her throat before going on, "Just swallowed wrong."

"That's what she said," came Sam's voice, and Kara turned to see her coworker standing there, a small smile on her face.

"Hey, you made it," Kara said, giving a wave. Normally she would have stood up to hug her, but Jess was right. She'd been on her feet all week, and she was wiped. Plus, her knee was still touching Lena's, and she didn't want to move it because she liked the contact, however small.

The brunette pulled up a chair, seating herself next to Jack. Thankfully they'd chosen a large table to accommodate them all, because Nia had still yet to show up. Sam already had a drink with her, and Jack pointed to it when she got settled.

"Please tell me you didn't pay for that," Jack said. "Everyone's drinks are on me tonight."

"I saw Winn and Jess at the bar, and they told me," Sam said with a nod. "Well, _Jess_ told me. Winn was too busy drooling over the bartender."

"How did that look like it was going?" Jack asked, glancing over to check on his assistant. "Well?"

"I wasn't really paying attention," Sam said honestly, shrugging.

But a moment later they got their answer, because Jess and Winn were back, the latter beaming and practically skipping to his chair.

"We're going out for coffee tomorrow," Winn announced to the table.

"There you go! See? What'd I tell you?" Jack beamed and held up his hand for Winn to high-five.

"Thanks, dude," Winn said, slapping Jack's hand. He then turned in his seat to look at Ray wistfully across the bar. "He's _so _cute. And so fucking tall. I'm gonna climb him like a tree."

"Winn, down boy, it's just coffee," Kara said, chuckling.

* * *

Eventually Nia joined them, and then it was almost hard to hear over so many people talking at once. With seven of them, mini conversations broke out over the main conversation. Kara learned that Winn was _a lot _different outside of work, especially if he was drunk. At work he was quiet, somewhat reserved. Sure, she thought he was gay, but she wasn't completely confident in that assumption…Until that night, when he got a few drinks in him and his flamboyant side came out.

It was fun, being out with a group but able to be with Lena as well. Throughout the night, Kara kept stealing glances at the actress, smiling when their eyes met for the briefest moment. It was thrilling, but also agony. She wished she could just throw her arm over the back of Lena's chair, or reach out and move this one stray strand of hair from Lena's face that she didn't seem to notice.

When the brunette excused herself to the bathroom, Kara waited all of thirty seconds before standing and following her. She waited by the sinks until Lena came out of the stall, smirking when she saw Kara standing there.

"Well, hi," Lena said as she went to the sink and started to wash her hands.

"Hey," Kara said with a chuckle. She bit her lip, eyes traveling over Lena, who was dressed in a red tank top and dark skinny jeans. "You look beautiful tonight."

"Thanks." Lena smirked again, grabbing a paper towel from the dispenser and drying her hands before throwing it in the trash bin. "It's a change from the pajamas I've been wearing around your house, right?"

"It is," Kara said, taking a step closer. "But I like you when you're wearing nothing, too."

"Oh really?" Lena asked, inching closer herself.

She knew it was risky, that anyone could come walking in the bathroom door any second. But something about her liked the danger, liked the trill it sent through her. But then a moment later the bathroom door _did _open, and Kara instantly bolted into one of the stalls. Jess caught just a flash off blonde hair as the stall door closed, smirking and shaking her head before looking to Lena.

"I'm heading out," she told her boss. "Kara's giving you a ride home, right?"

Lena blushed at that. She hadn't discussed her arrangements for getting home with Jess. She just planned they'd done what they'd done last time. Waited it out until Jess wanted to leave, and then Kara jump in and offer to bring Lena home. That way it seemed natural and didn't draw attention to them. Yet somehow Jess had figured out the pair's unspoken arrangement. But at least she'd had the tact to wait and ask about it in private instead of out with the rest of the group.

"Uh, I hadn't asked," Lena said, though, to keep up the charade.

Jess smiled, somewhat knowingly. She turned her head to the stalls. "Kara, can you bring Lena home?" she asked loudly.

"Yep," came the blonde's voice from behind the stall door.

"Thanks," Jess called back, then looked to Lena again. "Then it's settled. I'll see you Monday."

* * *

Thankfully, not long after that, everyone else was ready to call it quits, so Kara and Lena didn't raise any eyebrows by taking off early. But whatever idea of lovemaking before bed Lena had were immediately dashed by Kara yawning the whole way to her house.

She tried not to let on how tired she was, but Lena could tell. She could hear it in her voice, see it in the way her shoulders slumped ever so slightly, and the way Kara shuffled her feet as she walked. As soon as they walked in the door, Lena was the one who led them straight to the bedroom. But even after she stripped down to just a pair of underwear, she simply climbed between the covers and settled herself in to go to sleep. Kara went down to just her boxers and a sports bra and climbed in beside Lena, instantly pulling the brunette towards her.

The blonde was asleep within minutes, her steady breathing and the warmth of her body comforting to Lena. She'd missed this, simply lying in Kara's arms at night. It was a joy she'd only known for a short time now, but one she'd grown to look forward to. She hated that she only got to enjoy this arrangement two nights a week, but this was the arrangement they'd made, the one they'd agreed to. But as she quickly drifted off that night as opposed to all the nights she'd spent alone—tossing and turning—she couldn't help but think it was incredibly dumb to limit their time to just the weekends.

Though that thought didn't stay long because a moment later she was asleep, not waking again until the next morning when Kara coaxed her from bed with coffee and the promise of crepes. And they were so good that they were worth getting out of bed for.

But once she had food in her and the coffee had kicked in, Lena was dragging the blonde right back to her room. She instantly pushed Kara on the bed and climbed on top of her, thankful she hadn't bothered to put on a shirt as soon as Kara's hands went to her breasts. A moment later, she was kissing her, tangling their tongues together. Then Kara shifted her hips, rolling them over so she was on top of Lena, trailing her lips to her jaw.

Just when she got to that pulse point, though, Lena stopped her.

"You _cannot_ make another visible hickey," Lena said. "Last week I told makeup I'd done it with a curling iron, but I know they didn't believe me."

Kara chuckled, but nodded. "Okay, I'll make one where only I can see."

Lena bit her lip as she thought of the possible locations that could be. "Good. Thank you." But then Kara crawled off of her and stood up. "Wait, I didn't mean stop completely."

"I'll be right back," Kara said with a smirk. "I'm just going get something."

Without further explanation, Kara left the room and went to the kitchen going straight to the fridge. They'd used the last of the whipped cream for the crepes, so instead she grabbed the chocolate syrup. She was about to take it back to her room, but then she heard keys jingling in the back door, and she spun around in alarm to see Alex opening the door.

She jumped slightly when she saw Kara standing there, blinking in surprise. "Oh, so you are awake. Why the hell aren't you answering your phone?" She had a shopping bag full of Tupperware containers in her hand. "Here, I brought this for you."

"What is it?" Kara asked, taking the bag when handed to her.

Alex rolled her eyes. "Leftovers from Mom's. Kelly and I just got back from visiting. I texted you that I was bringing this over." She gave her sister a hard look. "Multiple times, in fact. When you didn't answer, I figured you were still crashing. That's why I came in the back, to try not to wake you. I was just going to leave it in the fridge and text you it was there… Whenever you finally got around to answering me, that is."

"Sorry," Kara said sheepishly, opening the fridge and tossing the bag inside. "I haven't been looking at my phone."

"Clearly," Alex said, glancing over her sister briefly. "Kara—quick question… Why are you half naked and holding a bottle of chocolate syrup?"

Kara tried to think of an answer, but nothing good came to mind. She stood there, bottle in hand, jaw hanging open slightly. Alex stared at her, slightly amused, and she put her hands on her hips as she waited for an answer.

"Kara, what's taking so long?" Lena's voice called from the hallway, and both Danvers sisters' eyes widened, but for entirely different reasons.

Kara threw herself into the doorway the moment Lena appeared, right before Alex's eyes traveled there and witnessed Lena in all her bare-chested glory. The brunette balked, flattening herself against Kara's back as she caught the glimpse of another person in the kitchen.

It was silent for a few seconds, until Kara spoke up. "Uh… Lena, this is my sister. Alex, this—this is Lena."

"Hi," Lena said, her face going as red as the hair of the woman she'd just met.

"Hi," Alex said back, then smirked at her sister. "Suddenly this all makes more sense." She started to back towards the door. "And clearly I'm interrupting. So, I'll just leave you to it."

As soon as she was out the door, Kara turned to Lena, who was still wide-eyed and shocked. "Here," Kara said, handing the bottle to Lena so she could run to her room. When she reappeared, she had dressed herself in a t-shirt and shorts. "Hang on, I'm going talk to her."

She kissed Lena on the cheek before darting to the front of the house, onto the front porch just as Alex was about to pull her car out of the driveway. She stopped when she saw Kara standing on the porch, and she threw the car in park as the blonde approached the vehicle.

Kelly, sitting in the passenger seat, rolled down the window and stuck her head out. "Holy _shit_, Kara. Lena _Luthor_?"

"See, that, that right there is what I wanted to talk to you about." Kara sighed and leaned her head in to talk to both of them. "Look, Lena's not out yet, okay? So, can you keep this between the three—well, _four_—of us?"

"I wasn't going to tell anyone else!" Alex exclaimed defensively. "You knew I was going to tell Kelly, though. I tell her everything."

"Okay, well now that you've gotten it out of your system, no more, okay?" Kara looked at Kelly. "Okay?"

"Don't worry, Kara," Kelly said with a smile. "I'm great at keeping secrets."

"I can't believe _you _kept this from me," Alex said, narrowing her eyes at her sister.

"Yeah, and I was doing a pretty good job up until now," Kara said, looking at her sister pointedly. "So please, for the love of god, _do not_ tell Mom."

"Oh, yeah right," Alex said. "If I did half of Midvale would know by sundown."

"Exactly." Kara let out a deep sigh. "And then it's only a matter of time before it's all over the world. So please, for me, just—"

"Kara, we're not going to say anything," Alex said, cutting her off, almost agitated. "Chill."

The blonde gave a small smile. "Thank you."

"So, when do _I _get to meet her?" Kelly ask, now smiling herself.

"Kelly, I wouldn't have even met her if I hadn't barged in on them," Alex said.

"It's still new," Kara said defensively, her jaw tightening. "We're still figuring it out, okay? I planned on telling you and introducing you to her eventually. I _wanted _to. God, Alex, you don't know how badly I've wanted to tell you. I just… Don't want to mess up anything with her."

"Kara, I get it," Alex said in a soft voice, looking to her sister kindly. "I'm not mad. I'm happy for you. If you're happy, that is."

"I am," the younger Danvers said honestly, not able to stop the smile that came to her face and not wanting to.

"Good," Alex said, smiling right back. "Tell Lena we won't breathe a word. And when and if she's ready to start getting to know the people in your life, we'd love to have dinner with the two of you."

"_Yes_, please!" Kelly said, her eyes shining with excitement.

Kara laughed at that, knowing Kelly was anxious to meet someone famous. She loved hearing Kara's stories from set and was infinitely jealous of the fact that Kara had brought Alex along to wrap parties and introduced her to the stars before. Kelly begged James to take her to one, but James didn't like wrap parties and never went. Kara planned on surprising her and asking her to go to the one at the end of this show—if they had one. Some shows didn't, and with how cheap they'd been thus far, she highly doubted producers would want to rent out a bar and pay for all of crew's drinks.

"I'll see what she says, but no promises." The blonde gave a final smile before stepping away from the car. "Thanks again, about Lena. And for the food."

"You're welcome," Alex said, putting her hand on the gearshift and throwing the car in reverse again. "Text me back some time when you remember to come up for air, yeah?" She smirked and looked at her younger sister pointedly.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," the blonde said, rolling her eyes.

When she went back inside, she found Lena sitting on the couch. She'd apparently gone in Kara's dresser and found a t-shirt and shorts to put on, and Kara's heart fluttered to see her wearing her clothes again.

"I didn't know if she was coming back in, so I helped myself," Lena said, gesturing to the outfit. "I hope you don't mind."

"Of course not," Kara said, going to sit beside Lena on the couch. "And she's gone. She was just dropping off food from my mom's house. She didn't think I was awake, so she was just going to put it in the fridge and leave, but then she caught me in the kitchen and…" She trailed off, her face going slightly red. "I'm really sorry about that. It all happened so fast, and I know you didn't want anyone to know about us. But I talked to her, and she promised not to say anything. I mean, her girlfriend knows, but she was in the car. She's not going to say anything, either, though, and she's studying to be a therapist, so she knows how to keep a sec—"

"Kara, it's _fine_," Lena said, cutting off the rambling and taking Kara's hand. "I'm not mad."

Kara gaped at her for a few moments. "You're not?"

"No," Lena said honestly, shaking her head. "You didn't do anything wrong. It was just something that happened. It wasn't your fault."

"Yeah, but you didn't want anyone to know."

"Well, shit happens." The brunette shrugged. Honestly, she was surprised she wasn't freaking out more. But there was something nice about someone else knowing, and somehow, she felt liberated instead of panicked. "There's nothing we can do about it now."

The older woman gave a small smile. "No, I suppose not."

Kara started to feel better with that. She hadn't realized how much keeping this from her sister was weighing on her. She normally told Alex _everything_. To keep something so huge from her went against Kara's very nature. And now that she knew, Kara suddenly recognized just how much she'd missed sharing this part of her life with her best friend and confidant.

"They'd like to have dinner with us—Alex and Kelly—if you think you'd ever be up for that," Kara said, her voice wavering slightly with nerves. Sure, they'd hung out in groups of people before, but that was different. Those were work friends, and no one knew of their relationship. Introducing Lena to _family_, family who were fully aware of what was going on between them—that was different. "But if you don't want to, I'd understand."

Lena thought about it, chewing her lip. She recognized the magnitude of this. It wasn't just dinner. It was her meeting important people in Kara's life, further delving into this relationship. It was a big step, one she'd never taken with a partner before. And as terrifying as it was, something about the idea was inviting to Lena.

After all, if Kara's sister was also a lesbian, then both of these women understood discretion. Everyone had a coming out journey, and as long as they were aware of hers and respected it, there shouldn't be a problem. Plus, she couldn't imagine anyone Kara kept close in her life to be anything but fantastic. After all, if the blonde was raised so well, Alex should be just as great in theory.

Plus, maybe it would do her some good to get to know other lesbians. She'd been robbed of the opportunity to open up about her sexuality in a safe environment before, and now that she had the opportunity, she'd be dumb to pass it up.

"I think that'd be lovely," Lena said after what felt like an eternity to Kara. "What about tonight?"

"Tonight?" Kara asked in surprise, blinking rapidly. "I—yeah, okay. I can ask." She scratched the back of her neck, thinking about what they would eat. "We can maybe order something, or I can run to the store and grab something to cook."

"Let's order something," Lena said with a smile. "I'll pay for it." When Kara opened her mouth to protest, she held up a hand and put a finger to her lips to silence her. "No. Let me." She gave a small smile and dropped her hand. "Please?"

Kara couldn't find the strength to argue. "Okay."

"Good." Lena stood from the couch, looking down at the blonde expectantly. "Now, I think there was something we were about to do before we were interrupted." She grinned. "I left the chocolate syrup in your room."

The blonde all but jumped off the couch. "Then what're we doing in here?"

Lena laughed as Kara grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her to her room, immediately attaching her lips to the blonde's once they got to their destination.

* * *

**cool, thanks, see y'all next time**


	19. Happy

**I'm not emotionally prepare for finale.**

* * *

Lena was nervous to spend time with Kara's sister and sister's girlfriend. After all, she never met the family of anyone she dated or slept with. And while she'd met Alex that morning, it had been a brief encounter. It hadn't been enough time for Alex to form an opinion on her character. She just hoped that once the red head had the opportunity that she'd like her at least a little bit.

But as nervous as she was, Kara was a _wreck._

After finally pulling themselves from the bed again, Kara had texted Alex to invite her and Kelly over for dinner. The moment they agreed, Kara's whole demeanor changed. Suddenly the ease was gone from her shoulders, and she began to look over her house with a frown. Then she was running around straightening up the place, seeming to need something to do with her nervous energy.

Lena offered to help, but Kara profusely refused. She insisted Lena let her do the work, so the brunette sat herself on the couch to watch a cooking show while Kara flittered around cleaning. But Lena felt bad just sitting there while Kara worked. And not to mention Kara running around muttering to herself about needing better cleaning habits was distracting, to say the least.

Eventually Lena just turned off the show and forced Kara to let her help. The blonde was reluctant at first, but the actress didn't give her much of a choice when she picked up a rag and started helping Kara dust. Kara protested for all of a second until Lena shot her a look that caused her to shut her mouth abruptly. Instead, she instructed her Alexa device to play music, and the two of them set to work.

By mid-afternoon Kara's house was nearly spotless, and Lena couldn't quite understand the odd sense of accomplishment she felt as she looked over the rental home. She'd never been much of a cleaner. Sure, she did some light cleaning here and there, but her entire life, she'd had a maid. First it was the people under her mother's employ while she lived in the familial home. But even once she moved into her penthouse, she had sought out a housekeeper. Mostly because her crazy filming schedule prevented her from having the time to clean herself. But, also, partially because she had the money to pay someone to do it, so why bother doing it on her own?

Yet cleaning with Kara had actually been kind of fun. The blonde sang along to the music from her Alexa, even danced a little as she walked around with a broom sweeping her living room. Lena found it adorable, and even caught herself bopping along to the music with Kara. She never thought she could enjoy something so domestic and—at times—tedious, especially when the home she was cleaning wasn't even her own. Yet doing it with Kara had made it not only bearable, but something she wouldn't mind doing again.

When they were done, it was early afternoon. They still had a few hours before Kelly and Alex were expected, and Kara's nervous energy seemed to have dissipated along with the mess, so they settled into Kara's bed to watch a something on the laptop.

"Thanks for helping me clean," Kara said, glancing sideways at Lena as her computer booted up. "I _hate_ cleaning, and it's usually an all-day event for me." She sighed, pausing to logon to her PC and pull up Netflix. "I just don't want to clean on my off time, ya know? I spend all day on set cleaning, it's the last thing I want to do on the weekends."

"Which is totally fair," Lena told her, patting her shoulder. "Have you ever thought of getting a housekeeper?"

Kara shook her head, looking to the brunette with a small frown. "I don't know anyone I'd trust enough to allow into my house, or anyone who has a trustworthy housekeeper. So it's not like I can get any recommendations."

"I have an amazing housekeeper," Lena offered.

"Well…" Kara paused, biting her lip. Her cheeks went a soft shade of pink. "It's also that I don't want to pay anyone to clean. I don't know how much they cost, but that's an added expense." She sighed, shaking her head again. "I've only just started living on my own, and I don't want to start spending like crazy before I've figured out how much I need to budget each month."

Lena was tempted to offer paying for her housekeeper Lyra—a young woman who'd been under her employ for the past few years—to also do Kara's house. But she knew it was something Kara wouldn't feel comfortable accepting. The woman had a hard enough time letting Lena pay for dinner, so a weekly service was probably way out of the question.

"Fair enough," Lena said instead, placing a hand on Kara's knee. "So, what do you want to watch?" she asked, quickly changing the subject.

Kara looked to Lena, her eyes lighting up. "Have you seen _Stranger Things_?"

"Of course I have," Lena shot back, smiling. "Didn't a new season just come out a few weeks ago?"

The blonde nodded enthusiastically. "Wanna start it?"

"Absolutely."

* * *

They got through two episodes before deciding to get ready for Alex and Kelly's arrival. Kara loaned Lena a pair of skinny jeans that happened to fit quite well and a loose, gray tank top. The brunette was grateful, especially since she'd brought literally no clothes to Kara's for the weekend. In her defense, though, she normally didn't _need _clothes at Kara's house.

The blonde swept up her hair into a ponytail and donned jean shorts and a black t-shirt with a rainbow flag. Underneath the flag were the words, "Kiss whoever the fuck you want." Lena took one look at it and snorted.

"And who do you want to kiss?" she asked coyly, quirking an eyebrow.

"Hmm, I don't know," Kara said nonchalantly, slipping her finger through the belt loop of the jeans she'd loaned Lena and pulling the actress closer. "Maybe you."

"_Maybe_ me?" Lena asked, draping her arms over Kara's shoulders and narrowing her eyes playfully at the slightly taller woman.

Kara chuckled lightly. "Definitely you."

"Much better," Lena murmured before pressing her lips to Kara's.

A knock at the door caused them to break apart, the blonde growling with frustration.

"Alex has the worst timing in the world, I swear," Kara muttered, stepping away from Lena. She sighed, looking to the brunette apprehensively. "This is it. Ready?"

Lena took a deep breath and nodded. "Let's do this."

The pair went over to the door, each bracing themselves before Kara put her hand on the knob and pulled it open. Alex and Kelly stood there, each holding a bottle of wine—Alex a red, and Kelly a white. They scanned Lena and Kara for a moment, taking them in.

"Well, they're fully clothed," Alex commented, and Kara was about to question her sister's comment when the red head turned to Kelly and said, "I guess I owe you five bucks, babe."

Kara glared at her sister for a few moments before starting to push the door closed again. At the last second Lena caught it, shooting Kara a pointed look as she pulled the door open fully. Kara sighed but stood back to let them in.

"Come on in," she said, almost reluctantly.

Kelly smiled and instantly went up to Lena, extending the hand that wasn't holding her bottle of wine. "Hi, I'm Kelly. It's so nice to meet you."

"Lena, and likewise," the brunette responded, shaking Kelly's hand. "Thank you for bringing wine."

"We didn't know if you liked white or red," Alex explained, gesturing to the bottles. "So we brought both."

"Well, thankfully I'm a Luthor, so as long as it's alcoholic, I'm usually not too picky," Lena said with a smirk as Kara shut the door.

"I prefer white," the blonde said, extending her hand towards the bottle Kelly was holding.

"Let's open this one first, then," Kelly said, placing the bottle in Kara's extended hand.

"I like red," Alex said, hoisting up the bottle she was holding for emphasis. "So I'm gonna go with her and open this one, too."

"In that case, I'll take a glass of red, too, babe," Kelly told her partner, giving her a parting kiss on the cheek.

Kara looked to Lena. "Which would you prefer?"

"I'll take white," Lena told her.

"Okay," Kara said, smiling a little. Then she was unsure of whether or not she should kiss Lena on the cheek before she left as well. But then the moment seemed to pass, and she began to feel awkward, so instead she just said lamely, "Be right back."

The Danvers sisters made their way to the back of the house, each carrying their bottles. Kara noted happily that the bottle of white was cold, which was great, because she preferred her wines chilled.

"Your clothes fit Lena well," Alex commented once they'd gotten into the kitchen. Kara shot her a look as she opened the drawer to rummage for a corkscrew, but Alex simply smirked and asked, "What, did she not bring any clothes of her own because she didn't _need _any?"

"Alex, remind me," Kara said, producing the corkscrew and narrowing her eyes at her sister, "that _Friday the Thirteenth_ where Jason kills someone with a corkscrew, was that the third or fourth movie in the series?"

"You know it was four," Alex said, snatching the kitchen utensil from the blonde's hand and using it to start opening her bottle. "It's my favorite, and I've made you watch it at least twelve times."

"Which is eleven too many," Kara said, going into her kitchen cabinet and taking out a couple of wine glasses.

Alex gasped as she pulled the cork from the bottle of wine. "How _dare_ you?"

* * *

When the two returned to the living room they were bickering. Lena was surprised, raising her eyebrows at the back and forth. Yet Kelly just seemed amused and shook her head as Alex handed her a glass of wine and sat beside her on the couch. Kara handed Lena one as well and perched herself on the arm of the couch.

"You're delusional," Kara said to Alex over Lena's head and took a sip of her wine. Hers was in a mug that had the DC comics character The Flash on it.

"I'm right is what I am," Alex shot back, also taking a sip of wine. Hers was in a plastic cup that had the Hogwarts logo on it.

"What are you two going on about?" Kelly asked, swirling the wine in her glass as she inspected it.

Lena noted that she, like Kelly, had an actual wine glass. She wondered for a moment if Kara had only bought two, or if there were more to the set. Personally, she had at least six wine glasses on hand in her apartment. Not that she needed them. She never entertained that many people. She just really liked to drink wine.

"Alex thinks _Friday the Thirteenth: Part IV _is better than the original," Kara said crossly, and from the way she said it and the fact they were apparently fighting, Lena surmised that the blonde disagreed.

Kelly let out a loud groan. "This _again_?"

"They've had this fight before?" Lena asked, turning to Kelly with eyebrows raised.

"Many times," Kelly affirmed, rolling her eyes. "And they always try to drag me into it."

"And she never picks a side," Alex said, glancing sideways at her girlfriend.

"I don't like horror movies!" Kelly exclaimed.

"You don't have to like them to have an opinion," Alex told her.

"My opinion is they both suck."

Kara blew out a breath and turned to Lena. "Do _you _have an opinion on the matter?"

Lena was silent for a moment, aware of all eyes in the room suddenly on her. "I—uh, have never actually seen any of them."

Alex and Kara exchanged a look of hope and excitement. They both fixed Lena was overly sweet smiles.

"Do you want to watch them?" Kara asked, batting her eyes cutely.

"And help us decide who's right?" Alex said, leaning across Kelly and poking Lena in the shoulder. "You'll be our new best friend."

Lena laughed a little, a warm feeling coming over her at Alex's jesting. Even though she'd just met the woman, there was something familiar about Alex that put Lena at ease. Maybe it was because of her relation to Kara and the similarities she saw between the two of them. But also, something about Alex was authentic.

She also liked Kelly. They'd made idle chit chat while Alex and Kara were getting the wine prepared, and she was really sweet. The last thing she wanted to do was make Kelly sit through _two _movies she'd already admitted to hating.

"Maybe Kara and I can just watch them together later, and I can decide and get back to you," Lena offered. "If Kelly doesn't like horror movies, I don't want to make her sit through that."

"Actually, if this settles this once and for all, then I'm surprisingly not opposed," Kelly said with a shrug. "Alex has already made me sit through the fourth several times, and we've had this debate before, so I've seen the first a few times, too." She sighed as she settled back into the couch cushions. "I've gotten pretty good at figuring out when to close my eyes."

The Danvers sisters' eyes fell on Lena again, and the brunette nodded. "Alright, I guess we could watch them."

"Yes!" Kara pumped her fist in the air and went over to her bookcase, scanning her DVDs until she found the movie.

"But we're going straight from one to four," Lena observed. "Does it matter that I haven't seen two or three?"

"Not really," Alex said, shaking her head. "There's a couple of things we'll have to explain, but it's not that difficult to understand."

"Yeah, the plot lines after the first become very thin and riddled with illogical situations," Kara said, smirking at Alex as she turned on her PlayStation and put the DVD into the tray.

"Shut _up_," Alex said, picking up one of the decorative pillows from the couch and throwing it at her sister.

Kara easily deflected it, but she growled and scowled at her sister. "_Don't_," she wined. "You'll make me spill my wine."

"Yeah, and I'd hate for you to break your mug, like you did with the other two wine glasses," Alex shot back.

Lena snorted. So that had been the fate of them.

"Okay, _children_," Kelly said pointedly, though the corners of her mouth twitched, a smile threatening to break through. "Can we get on with this, please?"

* * *

They watched the first movie, Kelly closing her eyes for the majority of it. Lena enjoyed it for the most part, though she kept expecting a big guy in a hockey mask to show up. When he didn't, she was extremely confused, though she kept her comments to herself until the end.

"I thought Jason was the killer of this series?" the brunette asked innocently.

"_Ha!_" Alex shot triumphantly at Kara.

"_Shh_." Kara hushed her sister with a frown before turning to Lena and smiling sweetly. "He is the face of the franchise, yes, but he is not the killer of the first one." She paused to shoot her sister a frown. "That's why it's the best one. Because a crazy woman running around a summer camp killing kids for revenge can actually happen, which is way scarier— in my opinion."

"So, if Jason died in the lake as a kid, how does he become that huge guy with the mask?" Lena asked.

"They explain it in the second one," Alex said immediately.

"Barely!" Kara proclaimed. "They tell a legend around a campfire about Jason somehow surviving, and instead of finding his mother or literally _anyone_ to tell them he's alive, he just lives in the woods and becomes feral. Then he sees his mother get killed and snaps, going out on a killing spree for revenge." She shook her head. "He doesn't even get his hockey mask until the third movie. And they kill him at the end of every movie, yet he somehow keeps coming back. It's so dumb. None of it makes any sense."

"It's not supposed to make sense!" Alex said, color rising in her cheeks. "Horror movies constantly defy logic."

"Not all of them," Kara said defensively. "And saying a movie isn't supposed to make sense isn't a good argument."

"Yes, good points, both of you," Kelly said dismissively, looking at her phone. "I have an unrelated question, though." She held up her phone and showed a menu. "Can we please order Vietnamese food? Because I really want bubble tea."

The moment Kelly mentioned bubble tea, everyone wanted one. So, they took their turns figuring out their orders, Kelly calling it in and offering to go pick it up. Lena gave her the cash for it, Kelly's eyes widening when Lena handed over a hundred dollars easily and told her to leave the change as a tip. She was also going to stop by her and Alex's apartment to pick up the DVD of the fourth movie because Kara didn't own it since according to her, "the first one is the only one worth owning."

Once Kelly returned with the food and the movie, they sat down and began to watch it. Lena was thankful that the fourth movie started with flashbacks from the first three, somewhat catching her up to speed on how they got from Mrs. Voorhees to Jason with his mask and machete. But Lena did have to admit, the bits she saw were a tad flimsy in terms of validity. Kara had a point on that one.

But she also had to admit that Jason was a much more threatening killer. Every time he committed a murder, she had to remind herself that these were merely props and fake blood. She'd seen them used in person on set before, had been covered in fake blood for a bit part in a vampire movie back when _Twilight_ was the craze and setting the trend for shitty knock-off movies to follow. But that didn't make it any less cringy to watch.

And after a second movie of gore and mayhem, she was thankful when it was over. Yet after Kara took out the DVD and put it back in its case, the Danvers sisters had their attention back on her.

"So, what did you think?" Alex asked. "That one was better, right? Much better."

"Alex, don't pressure her," Kara said, crossing her arms over her chest. However, she looked to Lena expectantly. "But what _did _you think?"

Lena looked back and forth between them, smiling a little at how something as simple as a movie could be so important to them. It was endearing.

"I have come to a conclusion," Lena said, pausing to suck down the last of her bubble tea, chewing on a tapioca pearl slowly to build the anticipation. "You're… Both crazy."

"I agree!" Kelly said enthusiastically. She picked up the glasses of wine they'd set aside once the food arrived, handing Lena's to her and keeping her own held up for a toast. "Cheers to that."

Kara's and Alex's jaws dropped as their romantic partners clinked their glasses together. The sisters exchanged shocked looks before turning back to the other two women in amazement.

"I don't like this," Kara said.

"Me either," Alex said with a frown.

"Separately they're nice," Kara said, looking to Alex pointedly. "But together?"

"Mean." Alex said with a nod.

"We just sat through two terrible movies for you," Kelly said, rounding on Alex. "How is that mean?"

"You called us crazy," Alex responded.

"Actually, that was Lena," Kara said, pointing to the brunette in question.

"I agreed with her, though," Kelly said, smirking.

"See?" Alex said, shoving Kelly's shoulder playfully. "_Mean_."

"I'm in love with you, so I would argue that I'm just as crazy," Kelly said, reaching up and patting Alex's cheek affectionately.

Alex smiled at that, but then a mischievous glint came to her eye. "So what does that say about Lena?"

The brunette abruptly swallowed her mouthful of wine, eyes going wide as attention turned to her. "I don't really know," she said with a shrug. "But I probably have my fair share of crazy, too."

"Everyone does," Kelly said with a smirk. "That's the secret no one tells you. Everyone has their own issues, no matter how big or small. Some people just need help managing it more than others."

Alex smiled proudly and put a hand on Kelly's shoulder. "She's studying to be a therapist, in case you can't tell."

"Kara mentioned that," Lena said, recalling Kara saying something to that effect in her rambling earlier. "Must be an interesting field of study."

"It is," Kelly said, with a nod. "But speaking of studying—I have a test coming up, and we should probably get back to look over my notes a few times before bed."

"Last night she fell asleep cuddling her textbook." Alex said as they stood from the couch. "Good thing I'm not the jealous type."

Kelly hit her playfully on the shoulder as they made their way for the door, turning last second to say to Lena sweetly, "It was so great to meet you. We'll have to do this again sometime. Hopefully with some better movies."

"Speaking of." Kara grabbed the DVD case for the fourth movie and scurried over to hand it to Alex. "Here. Would hate for you to forget your shitty movie." Alex took it and smacked Kara over the head with it lightly, earning a howl of protest for the blonde. "Ow, _bitch_," she said crossly, rubbing the spot on her head. "I hope you broke your DVD."

"I didn't even hit you that hard," Alex said, rolling her eyes. "Besides, your head is _really _hard. You're fine."

"Okay, we're leaving," Kelly said quickly, yanking open the door and pushing her girlfriend outside before Kara could return fire. "Thank you for having us. Keep the wine."

Alex began to protest, "Wait, I want the red—"

"No, Kelly said keep it," Kara said, beginning to close the door. "Bye!"

* * *

Later, after they'd put away the wine, showered, and settled into bed, Lena felt an odd sense of peace. She wasn't used to playful fighting among siblings. She and her brother had an odd relationship. They were close when they were younger, but the older Lex got, the more withdrawn he became. But they'd never ribbed and pestered each other in the way Kara and Alex did. Yet it was obvious that none of it came out of a place of malice. On the contrary—Lena was certain that Kara and Alex were closer than she and Lex had ever been or could ever hope to be. Especially now that they hadn't even spoken in years.

Normally his absence didn't bother her, but something about watching Kara and Alex interact tonight made her miss him. Even if he wasn't going to be her best friend like it was apparent Alex was for Kara, he was still the closest member of her family she had left. Even without speaking to him for the span of time it had been, she still loved him more than Lillian. She didn't even know if what she felt for Lillian could be considered love. It was more like reluctant toleration when it came to the Luthor matriarch.

"Sorry Alex and I kind of hijacked the night," Kara commented, turning on her side to look at Lena. Her hair was still wet from the shower, darker than normal and dampening the pillow.

"It's fine," Lena said, smirking. She reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind Kara's ear then traced her fingers delicately across the blonde's cheek. "You two are actually pretty amusing together. It's kind of adorable to watch."

Kara chuckled a little. "I'm glad you think so." She gave a happy sigh, reaching out a hand and placing it on Lena's forearm, dragging her nails gently back and forth over her skin. "I can tell Alex likes you, though. Kelly too."

Lena smiled at that, her heart soaring unexpectedly. She didn't realize how much she needed that validation until she got it, and the moment she did, a happiness washed over her that was once again unfamiliar, yet welcome.

"I liked them, too," Lena admitted.

And she did. Kelly was kind, a good listener, and a seasoned referee between Kara and Alex. The red head was blunt, funny, and had an ease about her that was infectious. Lena wouldn't mind spending another night watching movies with them—of course, like Kelly had said, of a different genre.

Even after Kara turned off the light and simply kissed her goodnight, Lena's overall feeling of happiness didn't subside. That night had been freeing. She'd been able to snuggle into Kara's side at all the scary parts, not even batting an eyelash or glancing over at Kelly and Alex with worry when Kara pressed a comforting kiss to her temple. Being with Kara like that, with other people who made her feel safe and accepted, it was exhilarating. To feel that type of approval and affection was a joy she'd not known before.

A joy she didn't want to give up, one that she wanted to continue to feel. If that was what being out and open felt like, why had she been denying herself that for so long? The answer was easy: Lillian.

But suddenly her mother seemed like less of an obstacle—more of an annoyance than anything. She'd filled Lena's head with fears that coming out of the closet would lead to nothing but misery and torment. But she'd poked her head out, and now that the door was open, she didn't know if she could close it so easily again. More importantly, didn't think she wanted to.

Staying in the closet meant denying herself the pleasure she'd had that night. The pleasure of just being herself and not having to worry about every move she made or every word that came out of her mouth. That was something that now that she'd found, she wasn't ready to give up just yet.

This bliss she'd found with Kara, it was all encompassing. And as she lay there in Kara's arms, looking over the blonde's still features in the dark, her heart swelled in her chest. She wanted to go to sleep every night like this and wake up each morning to the same sight. And even after this show ended and took them to different projects, she wanted to know that at the end of a long day, she could look forward to seeing this face, seeing that smile, and kissing those lips.

_I could be happy with this life_, was the last coherent thought Lena had before her eyes finally closed and sleep started to take her under.

* * *

**k here's your words, bye for now**


	20. Fine

**Hey. Been a minute.**

* * *

Going back to work the following Monday was hard for Lena. Almost as hard as having to part with Kara on Sunday night. But Monday was a little easier because it was one day closer to Friday, when her weekend would begin again, and she could retreat with Kara once more into their romantic bliss.

The fact that her call time was five in the morning on Monday didn't help, though. She'd barely slept Sunday night, as per usual when she was away from Kara. And she'd neglected to look over her lines for Monday over the weekend, so she was up until past midnight studying them. She felt half-dead when Jess picked her up to bring her to set and didn't perk up until her fourth cup of coffee.

Tuesday was slightly better since she wasn't in the first scene and didn't have to be on set until noon. Then Wednesday she was only into the last three scenes of the day, and crew call wasn't until eleven anyway, so by the time she got to work it was already five in the evening.

It was always a little weird for her to get to set in the middle of the workday. Everyone else was already half-way through their day, hungry for lunch and counting down the hours until they could go home. As Jess pulled her into the base camp parking lot there was a passenger van coming to set, dropping off people to go to lunch.

She perked up instantly when she saw a familiar, big, beat up, white truck parked near the trailers. A few moments later she spotted the usual driver hunched over the back, and she bit her lip when Kara pulled out a case of water and hoisted it effortlessly onto her shoulder.

Jess parked the SUV right next to the truck as Kara was rounding the front of the vehicle. The blonde looked up and smiled, waving at the two of them with her free hand. Lena hopped out of the passenger side before Jess even had a chance to kill the engine.

"I wish I could show up halfway through the day, too," Kara commented immediately, and she smirked as she pushed her ball cap further up so she could wipe a trickle of sweat away. "I'm jealous."

"I would be, too," Jess said as she climbed out of the driver's seat and slammed the door shut. "The best part of being a personal assistant to cast is getting to come in later." The dark-haired woman beamed. "And off days, too. Like tomorrow."

Kara's face fell slightly, instantly looking to Lena. "You're on hold tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Lena said, her face going slightly red as she looked down at her shoes. She'd figured she would have an off day coming up. They'd gotten through most of her scenes at the beginning of the show, so going forward, she was going to have more off time than previously. Normally it was the time she looked forward to most during a show and was thankful for the break in the chaos work brought to her life. But this time she was dreading it. Because the less time she spent on set meant the less she saw of Kara. "It's my first day off during the week. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself."

Which was completely true. Her only off days all happened to coincide with Kara's since they'd both only been free during the weekend. That didn't leave her much time to just exist on her own.

"Well what do you normally do on your off days?" Jess asked innocently.

Lena and Kara locked eyes for a brief moment, the blonde's face going red as Lena quickly looked down to the worn pair of sneakers she'd slipped into before leaving the house. "Oh, you know, just watch Netflix and relax," Lena said nonchalantly, stuffing her hands in the pockets of her jeans to appear casual.

"So Netflix and chill?" Jess asked with a grin, giving Kara a sideways glance.

Lena's face drained of color while Kara's only burned brighter. "I suppose you could say that," Lena said coyly, still trying to play it off.

Kara cleared her throat. "I should go fill that cooler," she muttered, backing away from the star and assistant like a dog with her tail between her legs. "I feel awkward just standing here with a case of water on my shoulder."

Lena forced herself not to watch her walk away, but she noticed Jess watching Kara go, an amused smirk on her assistant's face.

* * *

Kara tried not to think about the comments Jess made for the rest of the day, but it was hard. Kara, by nature, was an over-thinker. Years of bullying made her wary of people, always looking for a hidden meaning behind their words and body language. And while she didn't think Jess hated her or was targeting her, she did have a feeling that Jess knew there was something going on between her and Lena.

Normally she wouldn't care if someone knew about who she was dating, but normally she wasn't dating a celebrity. She was in a much less perilous position than Lena should their relationship become public. But that didn't mean she wasn't worried about the ramifications of their relationship becoming public knowledge. Still, though, it wasn't even the threat of people knowing that worried her.

It was how Lena might react should their secret get out. While Lena was fine with Alex and Kelly knowing and keeping their secret, it was something entirely different to have people outside of their circle knowing. Jess knowing could mean the difference between Lena being fine or Lena deciding this was all too risky and pulling the plug.

That's what scared her the most. Not people knowing about them, but that people knowing could actively shove Lena back into the closet if it got out before she was ready. All Jess had to do was make one wrong comment, and Lena could freak out. And then she could lose her forever.

And she didn't want to lose her just yet. She wasn't delusional. She knew eventually Lena would come to her senses and realize that she could have someone more impressive, someone who got served on set instead of served others. But she wanted to keep pretending for just a little while longer that she could hold onto this happiness she'd found.

Every time she went to the crafty setup and saw Jess with Lena, she couldn't let go of the ball of nerves in her chest. She was careful not to look at Lena too long, not to speak too much to her. She couldn't fuel whatever idea Jess had of them, even if it was right.

It was mentally exhausting, on top of the physical exhaustion she felt throughout the day. They'd started with the sun directly overhead, beating down on them mercilessly while they worked. She didn't even get a break from the heat because the shop they were using as a set for the day didn't allow food or drink inside, so their setup was out and open to the elements. And even after the sun went down, the heat barely got better, the humidity refusing to let up.

To top it off, it was going to be a long day. Oliver had told her not long after lunch that they were going to need a second meal, and he'd pushed her to get KFC because he was craving fried chicken. So, to win favor with him, she'd actually gone to the store and placed the order. When she told him she'd ordered KFC the stoic man smiled at her for what felt like the first time since the show started.

As much as she hated doing second meal, she was glad she could at least make him happy. Tensions had been growing between her and the AD staff the past few weeks, and it was making her life harder than it needed to be. If fried chicken would get Oliver and Mike off her back for two fucking seconds, then she would feed them fried chicken until they puked. Whatever she needed to get through the day at that point.

When she got in the truck to go pick up the food, she wished she could just be on the way home already. She wanted a shower and a painkiller, stat. But with second meal there was at least another two hours to their day, so there was no chance in that happening any time soon.

By the time she got to KFC it was getting late. They were obviously trying to close, on top of serving the other customers and work on her ginormous order. The lady at the counter saw her, recognizing the blonde immediately.

"Hey, that huge order is here for pickup!" the lady called over her shoulder, and Kara could see the workers in the back scurrying to get the boxes together. "It'll be just a few more moments, ma'am," she said to Kara. "They just dropped the last batch into the fryer."

"No worries. Take your time," Kara told her.

Honestly, she was somewhat thankful. She was able to go over to one of the booths and sit, which she normally only got to do at lunch. The restaurant was air-conditioned as well, and so she was happy to be out of the heat for a little while.

But not even thirty seconds after she was sitting her phone started vibrating in her pocket. Her anxiety spiked when she saw Nia's name flashing across the screen.

"What's up?" she asked.

"We just wrapped," Nia told her, somewhat out of breath. It sounded like she was struggling with something.

"What the hell do you mean we just wrapped?" Kara asked, trying to keep her cool. "We had six setups to shoot when I left."

"They punted them to next week," Nia said. "Apparently, we're back here Tuesday, and they decided just to do them then. So they called wrap. No Abbey, no Martini. Nothing, just wrap."

"Shit," Kara muttered. "The chicken's not even ready yet."

"Oliver said to just cancel second meal," Nia informed her. "He said he wants to get people off the clock as soon as possible."

"I can't just cancel it," Kara said, panic starting to rise in her chest. "It's already paid for. They've made it. It's not like I can return it." She groaned, immediately standing from the booth. "This royally fucks us."

"What do you want me to do, boss?" Nia asked.

"Just start packing up. I'll be there soon."

* * *

By the time Kara got back to set the majority of the departments were well underway in wrapping out. All the blonde had to do was look around the trailer to know they were deep in the weeds. But that was to be expected when production wrapped two hours ahead of time with no warning. The other departments had it easier because they were closer to the process. Any decisions about shortening the day were communicated right away. Craft Services was once again forgotten, an afterthought.

It didn't help when the AD staff sent Eve to stand by their trailer and wait for their out sheet either, huffing and constantly checking her watch as she sat daintily on a cooler, watching them bust their asses.

"How much longer do you think it's going to be?" Eve asked at some point.

Kara wanted to walk over and shove her off the cooler she was sitting on top of. There was still equipment strewn out in front of the trailer as she and the girls scurried around trying to make sure they had everything from set. It was plain to see they were nowhere near close to finishing.

"I'm gonna say a while," Kara said with exasperation, gesturing to the sea of coolers she still had to muscle into the trailer. "We obviously have a way to go."

Eve clicked her tongue. "You guys are always the last department out," she said in a judgmental voice. "Why haven't you come up with a better system?"

Kara stopped what she was doing, turning to Eve with eyebrows raised. "Our system is that I ask your AD staff every night when we're wrapping so that we can be prepared for the wrap out and not be caught off-guard. My system gets messed up when production decides to cut the last shots, and your department doesn't communicate that with me." She put her hands on her hips and shrugged. "I was told to expect to be here until well past three a.m. I was told to buy a second meal. It's barely one, and I had to leave over seven hundred dollars' worth of chicken at the restaurant. I didn't hear anything about us wrapping early until it had already happened. How is this my fault?"

Even in the dark, Kara could see Eve's face going red. "You could have better equipment that makes loading up easier," the small blonde woman muttered, nervously twirling one of her curls around her index finger.

"This isn't my company." Kara said, almost laughing. "I'm just the one running the show. None of this," she pointed to the battered trailer, and then to scattered equipment around it, "is _mine_. I'm literally doing the best job I can with what I've got."

Eve had nothing to say to that, her lips turning to a thin, white line. Kara sighed as she turned away, glad the conversation seemed to be over. Honestly, if Eve wanted them out of there so badly, why did she have to start talking? All Eve did was slow down Kara, and the blonde had enough to do without fighting with some PA.

She went in the trailer to get away from the small, annoying woman and to finish securing everything for travel. By the time she came out again, Eve was no longer on the cooler. Instead she was standing a few yards away, talking on her phone. That helped Kara feel a little more at ease. It was hard enough doing her job knowing they were going to be the last department out, but it didn't help to have a member of the AD staff sitting there watching her, judging.

After a few minutes Nia turned up with the last of the trash cans that had been on set. She helped Kara to get a few coolers into the trailer, and by the time they came out again, Sam had turned up with the coffee cart.

"I fucking hate this thing," Sam said, giving the cart a tiny kick. "The wheels suck."

"I know," Kara said quickly. She hated pushing the damn thing, too. The wheels were small and thin, and it was hard to push on uneven surfaces. "Clark keeps saying he's going to buy better ones to put on it, but that would entail spending money on the thing." He'd been saying he would replace them since the first time Kara ever worked for him, and it had never happened, so she didn't expect it to anytime soon or… Ever.

"He needs a better coffee cart, period," Sam said, rolling her eyes.

"Everything needs to be on carts," Nia chimed in. "That way you can just push everything. Then you get a ramp and roll everything in. It could be so fucking easy."

"This setup is a joke," Sam said with a head shake. "And we look like jokes working with this. Why doesn't this Clark guy take pride in his shit? Like, he's not ashamed of any of this?"

Kara bit her lip and closed her eyes to fight back tears. She knew all of this, she did. But what was she supposed to do? Just walk away? She was in too deep. Even for all his faults, she still _liked _Clark. He was a friend. She'd been to his house, knew his wife, even babysat his kid. She knew part of the reason Clark didn't put money into his company was because he didn't _have _it. The upgrades they were talking about would cost _thousands _of dollars. And there were the things they hadn't seen, back when it had been just the two of them working.

There were good times. He joked around with her, made working fun. He was easy going, and if she made a mistake, he usually just laughed it off. He talked her down when she was having a bad day, and at the end of the day actually cared about her. That was more than she could say for most bosses.

"Guys, I can't tonight," Kara said in a tired voice, feeling defeated. "Can we just pack up?"

Sam and Nia regarded her for a moment, then exchanged a look. They simply nodded after that and went back to work. Not much was said from then on, and thankfully with the three of them set on leaving, it didn't take too long to finish packing up.

When Kara handed the out sheet to Eve, the small blonde woman didn't even smile as she took it. She said nothing to Kara, just turned and started to walk away.

"Crafty's _finally _out," Eve said into the walkie in an overly sarcastic voice.

"Thank god," Mike's voice said with a groan.

Kara bit her lip to stop herself from cursing. Then, in the calmest voice she could muster, she said, "We can hear you, so can we retain some professionalism, please?"

There was radio silence after that, and Kara watched as Eve walked to the AD trailer, not daring to look back. But she did straighten her back and speed up her pace after that.

"You were a lot nicer than I was about to be," Nia said, a hint of respect in her voice.

"You never know who's listening on channel one," Kara said, thinking specifically of J'onn. The last thing she wanted was to make herself look even worse in his eyes after she went off on Siobhan during the first week.

"You still managed to call them out, though," Sam said with a smirk. "That was masterful."

Kara simply shrugged. "I wasn't trying to be a conniving bitch, it just happens sometimes."

She did smile a little at the fact that she was able to handle that situation with more grace than usual while still standing up for herself and her team. Maybe she was learning after all.

* * *

Thursday Kara woke to the sound of thunder and rain splattering against her bedroom window. She gave a loud groan, immediately reaching for her phone to check the weather. To her dismay, it was supposed to rain for most of the afternoon and the early evening. So, Kara had being drenched to look forward to on top of another night shoot.

Stupidly, Kara had left her rain jacket in the front seat of the truck, so when she ran out to leave, she was already soaked before she even got in the vehicle. Then she had the displeasure of driving to set in a torrential downpour. She hated driving the truck with the trailer behind it enough when the sun was shining. Adding rain and wind to the mix made the entire thing terrifying. It didn't help that there were pockets of water on the sides of the road, and hydroplaning in this rig meant almost certain death. She didn't believe in a god of any sort, but she said a little prayer to whatever powers that _might_ be just in case.

To make matters worse, they were filming out in the woods, nearly an hour out of the city. The location was a state park, and the moment she turned onto the gravel road, she began to get a bad feeling. The ground along the road looked soft, especially because of the rain. Clark had told her to be careful about parking the truck and trailer on soft ground because they could get stuck.

Thankfully, though, she was instructed to park in a gravel lot with the rest of base camp and working trucks. Unfortunately, though, set was a ways off, and that meant pushing equipment up the muddy dirt road.

It wasn't even five by the time their day got into motion, but the sky was dark with storm clouds, showering them on and off throughout their wrap-in. And even setting up their tent did little to keep the rain off the setup. They put sides to keep the rain out when it started coming at a slant, but drops still made it through cracks at the top. And as the rain landed on the top of the tent, water began to pool and make the canopy heavy. Drops of water slowly started seeping through the thin material, splatting on the table and getting the food wet.

And then, just as they were gaining momentum, the lightning started. On set when lightning struck, that meant everything had to shut down, and crew had to take cover. Then the clock would start, and they couldn't work again for thirty minutes. But if another bolt of lightning struck, they had to start all the clock all over again.

To wait it out, Kara climbed into the cab of the truck and started the engine so at least she could have the A/C going. She played music and games on her phone while she waited, groaning every time she heard someone on the walkie say that the clock was reset.

They hadn't even fired off their first shot yet, and they were already behind schedule. The day started off miserable because of the conditions and hike to set from the trailer, but to top it off, it was no doubt going to be a _long_ day because of all the lightning delays. That meant they would probably need a second meal, and her department just didn't have the money to do that.

Even though she was allowed to spend whatever she wanted, it didn't mean she didn't have restraints. The production credit card she'd been given had a limit, and no matter how fast she turned in her paperwork and receipts, it didn't reset until noon on Friday. And since it was Thursday, that meant she had only a little over $300 left on the credit card. If she had cash it wouldn't be such a problem, but her cash was turned over so slowly she was lucky if she saw any within a week of her turning in those receipts. That was all on accounting, and she'd heard from other departments that they'd been having trouble getting their cash reimbursed as well. It was maddening. She was told she could spend money, but then not actually given more money to spend.

And losing over $700 on chicken the night before had screwed her way more than she realized at the time. That really hurt her, almost right to her soul. If the crew had gotten the chicken, fine, then it wouldn't have gone to waste. But to know she spent so much on something she didn't even bring back to set was profoundly upsetting. She knew it wasn't really her fault, and it wasn't even the AD staff's. These things just happened sometimes. Things always changed on a dime in film.

But she still didn't feel better about the fact that they had almost no food left, no money to buy it with, and were most likely going to need a huge meal by the end of the night. Not to mention the fact that they were an hour from the city and most restaurants she would have ordered the meal from. And it just _had _to be a night shoot. That made it even harder because most restaurants weren't even open around the time she was going to need the meal.

The day before had been bad enough, and Thursday was turning into a shit show quickly. The only thing that kept her from crying— that gave her a glimmer of hope— was knowing that Lena was back at work that day. The day before had been all bleak and no light. She didn't realize how much simply seeing Lena and being around her enriched her day, even if they hardly spoke on set. But when they passed each other briefly, locked eyes, and shared a small smile, those were the moments that helped make her day enjoyable. Those tiny flashes of warmth throughout the workday made her actually _want _to go to work. Wednesday she'd barely made it out of bed because she knew she wouldn't be seeing Lena that day.

Thursday when she woke up to rain, she'd been tempted to pull the covers over her head and go back to sleep until she remembered Lena would be back that day. It was the one thing she was looking forward to out in this muddy mess. Yet the lightning setting them back meant not only was her day going to be longer, but she had to wait more to see Lena.

She was tempted to sneak to her trailer while everyone was in cover so they could at least spend a little time together while they were down. But then when she looked around the parking lot, she noticed the SUV Jess usually drove wasn't in the parking lot. And after quickly checking the call sheet the blonde's heart fell a little because she saw that Lena wasn't in the first few scenes at all.

Then she felt stupid for being disappointed, because it was her own fault for not checking the call sheet for anything other than call time and location. If she'd bothered to look at the scenes for the day, she would have known Lena was coming later. She supposed she also could have texted Lena and asked her what her call time was.

But she felt weird doing that. They didn't text much to begin with, only a couple of messages here and there. Most of their communication was in person, in the privacy of Kara's home. Lena didn't strike her as much of a texting person, anyway. She didn't want to risk bothering Lena by being too needy or clingy. The last thing she wanted was for Lena to get sick of her for being overbearing.

Hours later once the lightning had subsided when they were up and rolling and Lena did finally arrive at set, Kara heart nearly started to beat out of her chest. She'd just finished up finalizing receipts and turned them into the AD trailer, and the moment she walked out into the light drizzle of rain that refused to dissipate, she saw Jess's SUV come to a stop in the gravel lot.

The blonde did her best to hide her enthusiasm, but she couldn't help the smile that made its way to her face when Lena climbed out of the car wearing red pajama pants, a loose black t-shirt, and zebra-striped rain boots. Jess instantly hopped out of the driver's seat, opening an umbrella and running around to Lena so they could both stand under it.

"Welcome back," Kara said as she approached them, crossing her arms over her chest. She was wearing a grey shirt and her usual cotton shorts, and her clothing was soaked completely through. She'd started the day in her rubber rain outfit, which kept the rain off, but made her hot. After an hour she was soaked with sweat instead of rain, so she took it off because if she was going to be wet either way, at least the rain cooled her off. "Enjoy your day off?" she asked, wiping some of the moisture away from her face.

"I did," Lena said with a nod as Jess began to lead her to the trailer.

"Do anything exciting?" Kara asked, following.

"I went for a run, if you can count that as exciting," Lena said, leaving out the part that it had been on a treadmill in the upscale gym in her building. "And I got some reading done."

"If you only read your lines then that doesn't count as reading," Jess said with a smirk, giving Lena a knowing wink.

Lena laughed. "No, I started reading a book by Jerry Spinelli."

"I love him!" Kara said, her eyes lighting up.

Lena bit her lip to hide a smile. She knew Kara loved him. She'd gathered that from the numerous books by the author she'd seen in the blonde's bookcase. "I liked _Maniac Magee_ when I was younger, so I was excited to read something else by him."

"My favorite was always _Star Girl_," Kara said.

"Isn't that a superhero?" Jess chimed in.

"Yes, but that's not the same Star Girl I'm talking about," Kara said. "This one plays the ukulele, has a pet rat—"

"And falls in love with a boy named Leo," Lena finished for her, smiling. "Yes, I remember reading that one, too."

The pair stared at each other for a moment, each with a smile, until a clash of thunder brought them back to reality, and they saw Jess staring at them with interest and amusement. Kara instantly took a self-conscious step backwards, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly.

"Well, it's nice to see you, Lena," Kara said lamely, her cheeks going red. "Set's not the same without you."

Lena felt herself warm at the compliment. "Thanks, Kara."

Kara excused herself after that, and Lena was careful not to watch her leave, but as the brunette got to the doorway of her trailer, she glanced over her shoulder. Her eyes instantly landed on the blonde crossing the parking lot, and she gave a wistful sigh. Then she looked down slightly and saw Jess staring at her with a somewhat knowing grin, and she turned back around and ducked through the door to her trailer.

In the mirror she could see her face was a brilliant shade of pink, and Jess caught her eye through the reflection in the glass. The actress instantly cast her eyes downward. Her assistant quietly shook out the umbrella before placing it by the door. Then the small woman went to sit on the couch, eyes still on Lena.

"Are you okay, Lena?" Jess asked quietly.

Lena almost smiled at the fact that Jess remembered to call her by her first name instead of _Ms. Luthor_. "I'm fine, Jess," she said, giving a small nod.

Jess frowned a little, a flash of disagreement crossing her features, but obviously thought better of it and swallowed it down. "You and Kara have a cute friendship," she commented instead, all the innocence in the world in her voice.

Lena instantly turned, eyes wide and trained on her assistant. "What makes you say that?"

"You two just have a good rapport," Jess said with a shrug. "You seem comfortable around each other."

"I mean, yeah, we're friends, I guess," the brunette said, pretending to examine her nails, as if the conversation was no big deal and didn't warrant her full attention. "But you and I are friends, too, Jess."

The smaller brunette woman narrowed her eyes at her boss for a second. "Good, I'm glad you think so. I consider you a friend, too. That's why I want you to know that if there's anything you want to talk about, anything that's bothering you, I'm willing to listen," Jess said, sincerity etched across her face.

Lena's breathing hitched, and she tried not to let on how shaken she was by the offer. "Thanks, Jess. But there's nothing to tell. I'm fine." She put on a wide, fake smile. "I'm rich, famous, and have a job most people only dream of. What could possibly be bothering me?"

Jess returned a small, kind smile. "If you say so," she said softly. "But if something were to start bothering you… Well, just know I'm here, okay?"

"Thanks, Jess," Lena said, her own fake smile not faltering. "But really. I'm _fine."_

* * *

**_Wear your fucking masks._**


	21. Drenched

**Here is another chapter.**

* * *

Thursday continuously kicked Kara's ass the whole day through. It rained on and off incessantly, so she never had an opportunity to dry off. The only upside to that was that it cooled her off in the unforgiving heat. It was as if the rain made it worse, simply adding to the humidity in the air.

She didn't begin to feel truly uncomfortable until her feet started getting wet. First it was just the tops of her feet and her ankles from rainwater dripping down her legs. Her feet remained dry because thankfully her hiking boots were waterproof—and they had _better _be after how much she paid for them. But then she stepped in a puddle a little too deep, her foot sinking in the mud, and a shiver of disgust ran down her spine as grimy, dirty water filled her sock and squished between her toes.

She immediately turned right around and went back to the truck, rummaging in her bag to find her extra pair of socks. She glumly kicked off her soiled shoes and peeled off her dirtied socks. After letting her feet air-dry for a few minutes, she put on the new, fresh socks, and it instantly made her feel a little bit better.

But that comfort quickly subsided because she'd changed into her rain boots, which were far from comfortable. They had no arch support, and the fabric along the top rubbed annoyingly against her calf. By lunch her feet felt like they normally did at the _end _of the day, and she had a brush burn along each of her calves where the boots rubbed her skin raw.

To top it off, her headset had gotten wet and thus broken, and she'd stupidly forgotten her extra one on the kitchen table. So, she had her walkie on the lowest volume possible when she was on set and tried to stay away from set as much as possible. It sucked, but there was nothing she could do about it.

Having an open walkie with no headset on set was unprofessional and dangerous. If someone happened to talk on the walkie while they were rolling—even though it was prohibited, sometimes it still happened—then the take would be blown. She'd heard of people being fired over having an open walkie on set. She didn't want to be one of them. She knew it wasn't her fault her headset broke, or that all the extras production had rented out had already been claimed by other crew—as was usual on rainy days, because _everyone _had the same problem—but she also didn't want to give the AD staff any more reason to dislike her.

So, she made herself useful around the trailer since it was parked all the way at basecamp, trying her best to clean up the mud and rainwater Nia and Sam tracked in when they came to grab things to restock. It wasn't hard to keep busy when she had the pass-arounds to cook and then cleaning up after herself. Even though the day started off slow, it seemed to fly by.

And while she'd been expecting second meal, she'd asked about it earlier and gotten told it didn't seem likely, despite the delays. They were running low on supplies, but they'd already made it through lunch and both pass-arounds, and she'd already cleaned the dishes and put them away. If there was no second meal, they were just coasting until wrap. Nia and Sam had set handled. That meant she could actually work on paperwork on set and off the clock instead of just doing it at home later because it was easier.

She went to the truck to grab her binder of paperwork and receipts off the seat, taking a moment to sit of the cab and look over them and organize them based on type. While there weren't too many from the past couple of days, she'd procured a backlog of them from the beginning of the week. Hopefully she could make it through at least most of them before they had to start packing up.

As she was climbing the steps into the trailer, she heard the last snippet of a conversation over the open walkie she had on the front table. It was Eve's voice saying, "I'll go find her."

Kara picked up the walkie, her heart racing. She _really _hoped she wasn't the her they were talking about, because that meant in the roughly eighty seconds she'd been away from her walkie someone had called for her and she didn't answer. Not answering when someone called for you over the radio never made you look good.

But to her dismay, Eve turned up a few moments later, looking perturbed. Kara's shoulders fell as the small blonde eyed her, and then the walkie on the counter.

"We were calling for you," Eve said bluntly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear it," Kara said. "What's up?"

"We need second meal."

Every muscle in Kara's body tensed, and she let out a deep sigh. "Are we actually doing it this time?"

Eve gave a sarcastic, surprised smirk. "Yeah, that's what Oliver said."

"He said that the other night, too, and it didn't happen," Kara shot back. "I just wanted to make sure."

"Well, it's happening," Eve said in an agitated voice. "So figure it out."

Kara stared at her for a few moments, her mind going blank with white-hot rage. But she just put on a huge, insincere smile and said, "Sure, I'll get right on that."

Eve rolled her eyes as she left the trailer, and Kara resisted the urge to flip off the petite woman's retreating back. But then a moment later over the walkie came Eve's voice in an obnoxious, sing-song manner, "Hey, Mike, channel two."

"Oh, this is going to be good," Mike cam back sarcastically.

Knowing this had to be about her, Kara switched her own radio to channel two to listen in.

"I saw her walkie, so she definitely has it," Eve said, and if Kara had any doubt before that this conversation was going to be about her, all of them were confirmed with that statement.

"Cool, so she was just ignoring us," Mike said, his arrogant voice grating on every one of Kara's nerves.

"She said she didn't hear us," Eve returned, then added, "She also wanted to know if we were actually doing second meal this time."

Mike sighed deeply into the walkie before saying, "What is her _problem_? This is a changing business."

Kara wanted to listen more, but then her phone started vibrating in her pocket, and she had to answer a call from Nia. The information about second meal had been passed along to her on set, and she wanted to know what they were going to do. Kara could barely think she was so angry, but thankfully Nia was on the ball and suggested a breakfast place and donut shop not too far from their location that had decent prices and was open twenty-four hours.

"If you can keep it under $320 and they can have it in the next hour and a half or so, I say go for it," Kara said. She trusted Nia completely to handle second meal. When they gave her the opportunity to prepare for second meal and talk it over with her team, Nia always came up with the best suggestions. She was also a lot better at placing the orders than Kara was. Somehow Nia just knew exactly what to order, how much, and was even able to charm deals out of people.

"I'll get it done, boss," Nia told her, instantly causing a weight to lift from Kara's shoulders.

"I'm coming to give you the credit card now," Kara said as she descended the steps to the trailer.

"Meeting you halfway, then," came the reply.

Kara smiled as she hung up. She loved the way she and Nia worked together, like-minded and dedicated to helping each other accomplish the same goal. And knowing Sam was on set to handle the upkeep while they took care of this made her less anxious about the added workload this meal was putting on them. At least her team was on her side, even if the AD staff wanted her to drop dead.

* * *

Nia was able to get a decent amount of food under the price constraints. It was basic breakfast food—bacon, scrambled eggs, hash browns—but it was better than nothing, and crew seemed to be happy about it. And since it was a donut shop, the place had thrown in a dozen donuts free of charge. The best part was that almost immediately after the meal was over and they'd cleared out the near-empty containers, they called the Abbey shot over radio.

The girls kicked it into gear then, consolidating down to just a few things and taking the rest back to the trailer. By the time they called Martini they were down to one cooler, two trash cans, the coffee cart, and one small table with a few snacks that were already in a small box, ready to go for when they called wrap. Kara left her crew to it as she went to the trailer to get it ready for travel.

When she got back to base camp, she was elated to see Lena arriving back at set via one of the UTV's production had rented for the day to transport crew and gear back and forth. Kara's department was one of the few that didn't get one rented for them, even though having one would have been a huge help.

Someone from the makeup department immediately descended on Lena to take the wardrobe shoes the brunette was holding in her lap, appearing to have changed into her own boots for the trek back to set. Brainy allowed Lena and Jess to gather everything from the UTV before throwing it in reverse to head back into the woods to grab more crew members wrapping out.

Kara knew she needed to do things inside the trailer, but she couldn't help hovering outside for a moment with Lena standing so near. Lena still looked immaculate, having been under cover all day. There was a tent for cast on set, cast got umbrellas carried over them everywhere they went, and they had a trailer to retreat into if conditions got too rough. To top it off, there were constantly members of makeup and hair flittering around Lena to make sure she was camera-ready. Kara probably looked like a wreck, her clothes still soaked from the earlier storms and mud spatter dotting the back of her legs.

Lena's eyes instantly floated to her, and she pouted upon seeing the state the blonde was in. "Oh, Kara, you poor thing," the brunette said, actually seeming upset about how dirty her weekend bedmate had gotten throughout the course of the day. "You look like a drenched kitten."

Kara was glad it was relatively dark, even with the work lights set up outside the trailers, because her face went about as red as Supergirl's cape. "I was thinking more drowned rat, but I like what you said better." She smirked and looked down at her soiled clothes. "Somehow I thought working in film would be a bit more glamorous."

Lena shifted her weight from one foot to the other, suddenly feeling guilty for being clean. "I'm sorry," she said lamely, but it was all she could come up with.

"Don't be," Kara said, instantly looking back up and shaking her head quickly. "I _love_ this job—most days." She gave a completely genuine smile. "I'm thankful for everything I have and what I get to do. I just… I'm tired and dirty, and I want to go home and take a shower and collapse in my bed and not move for, like, twenty hours." She exhaled loudly through her nose, and her face fell. "_But _it's only Thursday, and I have to work tomorrow."

"Well, we're on night shoots, and since it's almost six a.m., it's technically Friday," Jess chimed in, eliciting a frown from the blonde.

"Jess, _why_?" Kara asked with a whine. "Why did you have to remind me?"

"I thought I was helping!" Jess threw her hands up in exasperation. "Friday means it's one day closer to the weekend."

"Yeah, but at this point that means that I've been at work so long it's not even the same day as when I came to work. And since it's another night shoot tomorrow, we're going to work into Saturday morning." She sighed, shoulders hunching.

"Then you end up sleeping all day Saturday, so your only off day is Sunday, but you're so tired from the way the schedule fucks with your body that it's like you have jet-lag," Jess chimed in. "Then back to work on Monday morning." She frowned, looking to Kara apologetically. "Okay, I get it now. I'm sorry I reminded you."

"And me," Lena said, raising her hand a little. "Now I'm pissed about the shorter weekend, too."

Lena's and Kara's eyes locked for a moment, then they both quickly looked away—Lena to her feet and Kara pretending to examine her nails. Jess regarded them both, slightly amused but hid it well.

"Is she out?" came the shrill call of Eve's voice, and the three women turned to see the curly-haired woman stomping over to them. "Lena's wrapped, why is she still in wardrobe?" she demanded as she descended upon them. "Jess, you need to get her out of costume and off the clock, _now_. Kara, stop distracting Ms. Luthor. We're on Martini. Don't you need to be wrapping out?"

Kara's jaw became tight, and her face started to heat up. The detest she held for the tiny woman was etched across every line on her face as she glared at the PA. Jess simply kept her expression stony and neutral. Lena, however, was aghast. Her jaw dropped, and her eyes widened.

"_I'm_ the one who started the conversation," the actress said boldly, taking a few steps forward so that she was slightly in front of Kara and Jess—putting her between Eve and the other women. "I was enjoying a nice conversation with my _friends_, so if anyone's at fault right now, it's me." Eve's lips puckered, and Lena smirked, knowing she had the upper hand on that one.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Luthor, excuse me," the small blonde woman said in an even smaller voice.

"Also, the way you addressed both of these women is completely unprofessional," Lena went on, crossing her arms over her chest. "Jess is a personal assistant. You're a PA. You are on the same level as her. I believe that warrants at least a little bit of respect."

Eve nodded emphatically. "Yes, Ms. Luthor, you're absolutely right."

"And Kara's a _department head_," the brunette went on, nodding towards the drenched woman. "She may not be the head of _your_ department, but she is a superior, and you have no right to speak to her that way."

That seemed to stump Eve, and she sputtered a bit before saying, "I—I'm sorry, Ms. Luthor."

"Don't tell me." Lena shook her head. "Tell them," she said, standing aside and gesturing to the pair of dumbstruck women whose honor Lena had just defended.

Eve stared blankly for a few moments, looking like a deer in the headlights. "Jess, Kara… I apologize for the way I spoke. It won't happen again."

"That's better," Lena said, putting on her most charming smile as she continued in a honey-sweet voice, "I'm going to get out of wardrobe now. Jess will let you know when I'm out."

"Yes, Ms. Luthor," Eve said sharply, turning on her heel and slinking away.

"You're officially my favorite person in the world," Jess said, turning to Lena with a huge smile. "I've been wanting to go off on that little wench since I worked with her on _By the Way_. It's about time someone put her in her place."

"I didn't want to put her in her place," Lena said, instantly feeling self-conscious. "I just… Couldn't let her speak to you two that way."

The brunette quieted, a far-off look coming to her face. She took a tiny step back and crossed her arms over her chest as her eyes fell to the ground. Kara noticed the change, the shift in Lena's demeanor. It was as if Lena was retreating into herself, right there before her eyes. Jess seemed to notice the change, too, frowning at Lena's sudden withdrawal.

"We should get you out of wardrobe before the troll comes back," Eve muttered, placing a tentative hand on Lena's shoulder.

"Yes, we should," Lena said, snapping back suddenly. Yet all the fire she'd had before was gone, and she looked incredibly tired. "Good luck wrapping out, Kara," she said, her voice sounding somewhat hollow. "I'll see you later."

Kara nodded, a small frown on her face as concern settled in the pit of her stomach. But she couldn't push the matter in front of Eve. "Yeah, see you later."

As Kara watched the brunette slosh through the mud to her trailer, the blonde frowned deeply, an uneasy feeling settling over her. But she didn't have time to make sense of it. Eve was right, even if she was a royal bitch—Kara _did _have to finish wrapping out. So, she tabled the concern in the back of her mind and got to work, knowing the faster she and the girls finished the sooner she could get home and finally wash off the filth of the day.

* * *

Lena was slow getting out of her wardrobe, but she still managed to get changed back into her own clothes before production officially wrapped. By the time she was climbing into Jess's SUV she caught a glimpse of Kara and Nia loading the coffee cart into their trailer. But it must have been one of the last things they loaded, because by the time Jess was driving them away, she saw Kara turning off the lights and descending the stairs. The blonde caught her eye through the window and waved. But Lena didn't have time to react, so instead she texted Kara a waving emoji so the blonde wouldn't think she was ignoring her.

The whole way home, though, she couldn't stop thinking about Kara and the fact that they wouldn't have their normal weekend. It was the thing she looked forward to most during the week, kind of like a reward for making it through the rough workdays. And the fact that their time together would be cut in half made her want to cry.

All she wanted was to be able to go to sleep next to Kara. She was hardly able to sleep without the blonde next to her, so she was exhausted from both the long workday and not being able to sleep well all throughout the week. She _knew_ she would sleep better at Kara's, yet the logistics of her spending a night that wasn't a weekend was usually too complicated—if they wanted to continue to keep it a secret. It _could_ be simpler—but that was only if Jess knew.

The brunette had an inkling of a feeling that Jess already did suspect her and Kara. They had almost been caught by her in the bathroom at Noonan's, and then there had been the "Netflix and Chill" comment, along with the one about their friendship being cute. But Jess also made it emphatically clear that Lena could talk to her if she needed to. Maybe confiding in Jess wasn't the worst thing in the world.

Lena pulled her phone from her pocket, quickly typing out a text to Kara.

_Lena: I know it's a weeknight… But can I come over tonight?_

She waited for a few moments, surprised when the blonde got back to her quickly.

_Kara: Sure! I'm turning in paperwork now. Pick you up at home?_

Lena was tempted to accept the offer, as it would keep Jess from knowing about their affair for a little bit longer. But that would mean Kara would have to drop her back off at home in the morning, and all of that just seemed like a huge waste of time. It would be easiest on everyone if Jess dropped her off at Kara's and picked her up there the next morning. Their cover would be blown, but to Lena, that really didn't seem like the worst thing in the world.

"Jess, would you be willing to wait at home while I gather a few things, then bring me somewhere else?" Lena asked bashfully. "I'm sorry, I know you're tired, and it's extra time—"

"Lena, I'm fine. We had a half-day today, and a day off this week, remember?" Jess asked with a smirk.

"Oh yeah." Lena blinked at her for a few moments before blurting, "Then why the fuck am I so tired?"

Jess snorted out a small laugh. "You're tired and you want to go somewhere else?"

"I only intend to sleep somewhere else," Lena said, her face burning as a blush crept across her cheeks. "So I'll need to be picked up there as well tomorrow morning."

Her assistant was quiet for a moment, then simply said, "Okay, no problem."

Lena smiled a little as she typed out another text to Kara.

_Lena: I can get there, just send me your address._

* * *

Lena packed as quickly as she could, blindly throwing in a few outfits, some underwear, socks, and sneakers for a few days. Everything else she needed was at Kara's, and she didn't want to keep Jess waiting, so she took what she had and raced out the door.

To avoid paparazzi, Jess dropped her off at the front of the building then took Lena's garage key and went around and into the garage so that the SUV was waiting at the building's entrance into the parking structure. The assistant seemed surprised to see Lena emerge so quickly, raising her eyebrows as she noticed that Lena hadn't even bothered to change out of her rainboots.

She had, however, put on a hoodie sweatshirt and pulled the hood over her head. As Jess pulled out of the garage, Lena put on a pair of sunglasses. They were partially a disguise, but as they drove through the city, Lena was glad she'd thought to grab them. Though their workday was done, the day for the rest of the world was just starting. The sun was coming up, and traffic was starting in the city as people began their morning commute to work.

But they still managed to make it to Kara's neighborhood in excellent time. Lena had never driven to the house herself, always being chauffeured there by Kara—and now Jess—but she knew when they were getting close. Her heart raced as they drew nearer, knowing the moment that behemoth truck and tell-tale trailer came into view that Jess's suspicions would be confirmed, and their secret would be out once and for all.

And just as expected, the moment Jess spotted the truck and trailer parked on the corner near Kara's, the assistant gasped loudly and said, "I _knew _it!" Jess composed herself, simply smiling as she stopped in front of the red house, spotting Kara's SUV in the driveway. "I have so many questions."

"I'll answer them in time," Lena said, giving a small smile in response. "For now, I just have one thing to ask of you, and that's for discretion."

"Done, easy," Jess said, her eyes somewhat wide and filled with wonder. "Wow… Just wow." She shook her head. "I'm sorry, I know I knew, but I'm just a little blown away right now."

Lena shifted in her seat a little, her cheeks going pink. "It's not that hard to believe, is it?"

"No, of course not!" Jess reached across the center console and put her hand on Lena's knee. "Kara's great—she's funny and nice, and she seems to make you smile _quite _a lot." The assistant smiled herself at that. "I'm happy for you."

The actress was taken aback for a moment. She was just getting used to basic human decency since being around Kara, and it was still overwhelming sometimes. "I—Thank you, Jess."

"You're welcome," the assistant said, removing her hand from her boss's knee. "Now, go see your woman. Run the poor girl a bath. She needs it."

Lena chuckled at that, gathering her bag and opening the door. "See you in the morning."

"Have a good night, Lena," Jess said as the other woman closed the door to the SUV.

Lena waved as her assistant drove off, a lightness washing over her. It was as if there had been a sumo wrestler sitting on her chest, and with her admission to Jess, he'd gotten off and allowed her to breathe. She felt like she was nearly floating as she climbed the steps onto the porch of Kara's house.

The door opened almost immediately after Lena knocked, the blonde standing there still clad in her soiled work clothes, but barefooted. Lena didn't give her a chance to speak. The actress simply tossed her bag on the couch, closed the front door with her foot, then threw her arms around Kara's neck.

"I stink," Kara said, hands going hesitantly to Lena's hips.

"I don't care." Lena pressed her body fully against Kara's and buried her face in the crook of the woman's neck.

Kara then snaked her arms around Lena's waist, allowing herself to give in to the comfort of Lena's hug. After the day she'd had it was completely welcome. She felt her body releasing its tension every second she was pressed against Lena, and she didn't let go until she felt the brunette pulling away.

Lena cupped Kara's cheeks and asked, "Do you want to go take a shower?"

"Yes." Kara nodded emphatically.

She let Lena lead her to the bathroom, somewhat surprised when Lena started the shower and got towels out of the cabinet for them. It gave her a fluttering feeling in her stomach to see the brunette so comfortable in her home. She turned her back to Lena to hide her smile as she peeled off her disgusting shirt, instantly feeling relief when the fabric was no longer stuck to her skin.

Even though Kara'd been showered with water practically all day, showering was different—better. The hot water felt good on her sore muscles, and she could see a trail of dirt washing down the drain. Bathing after a day like she'd had was always a cathartic experience, and the only thing that made her leave the shower was the fact that her bed was calling.

When she and Lena finally pulled back the curtain steam hung in the air, and the bathroom mirror was foggy. Kara had to wipe her hand across it just so she could see to brush the tangles out of her hair. The moment Lena opened the bathroom door some of the steam rushed out of the room.

While Kara brushed her teeth, Lena went to the living room to rummage in her bag and find clothes. She dressed in them as she went back to the other side of the house, going to Kara's drawers and finding clothes for the blonde. She returned to the bathroom just as Kara was spitting out a mouthful of toothpaste. Lena handed the clothes to her before grabbing her own toothbrush.

"Thanks," Kara said, kissing Lena quickly on the cheek before heading out of the bathroom. Lena blushed at the interaction, heartbeat quickening at the affection.

The star was just finished brushing her teeth when she heard a loud groan from the other room. Lena rushed to the bedroom, finding Kara flat on her back in the bad, sprawled out with her eyes closed.

"Are you okay?" Lena asked worriedly, going over to the bed and kneeling beside Kara.

Blue eyes slowly opened, a lazy smile coming to Kara's face. "I'm fine. I just lay down and it felt _so good._"

Lena let out a sigh of relief then chuckled. "I'll bet."

Kara scooched over to allow space for Lena to lie down, and they both settled under the covers. Lena leaned over the side of the bed, smiling when she saw the phone charger she'd borrowed previously was still plugged into the outlet on her side of the bed. Once she plugged it in, she checked her email to see if she'd gotten a call time yet.

She had, and she was in the first scene of the day, so her pickup time was not long before crew call. At least she and Kara would probably leave the house at the same time.

"Do you have an alarm set for the morning?" she asked Kara.

"You mean this afternoon?" Kara asked with a smirk.

Lena looked around the room, which was lit only by the lamp next to Kara's bed. The blackout curtains on the window were deceiving, making the time of day anyone's guess. But her phone told her that it was just past eight a.m. "Shit, yeah." She blew out an agitated breath. "But do you?"

Kara nodded. "My call's 7:30, so I'm waking up for 6:30." She held up her phone, showing the alarm. "And I made sure I set it to p.m. because I have made that mistake before."

"Perfect," Lena said, setting her own phone aside. "Then I don't need to set one."

With that settled, the actress allowed her to really settle into the bed, enjoying the feeling of a warm body next to her. Her own bed always felt cold and vacant in contrast—almost like a hotel bed, barren and impersonal. It wasn't uncomfortable, it just didn't _bring_ her comfort like Kara's bed did. But that had more to do with Kara than it did with the bed itself—she knew that.

The moment Kara switched off the light, Lena felt all those sleepless nights catch up with her. She wanted nothing more than to fade into the peaceful oblivion sleep promised, what she'd been without the entire week. She felt Kara scoot closer, and the actress turned her back so that she fit into the curve of Kara's body. Lena took Kara's arm and draped it over herself, holding onto the rough, calloused hand and kissing her on the knuckles.

Lena heard Kara sigh happily and felt her nuzzle her nose into the nape of her neck. A happy, warm feeling spread over Lena. A smile crept to her face, and it stayed, even after Lena fell into the deepest sleep she'd had in months.

* * *

**Thanks, til next time.**


End file.
